


The Paragon

by inkflight



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-19
Updated: 2017-02-27
Packaged: 2018-08-16 01:32:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 37,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8081452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inkflight/pseuds/inkflight
Summary: When Chat Noir's Miraculous is lost, Ladybug must track it down and make things right. But in Chat Noir's absence, a new hero has emerged to take his place. Is this hero who he claims to be, and what does his presence mean for the city of Paris? As Ladybug seeks answers, a sinister plot is brewing.





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Officer Roger leads a team of operatives to take down a supervillain.

As the first rays of sunlight illuminated the top of the Eiffel Tower, the streets of Paris were empty, save for a blowing scrap of trash or a confused wandering tourist. Lights were just beginning to flicker on in high-up windows and behind glass doors, and the streets were quiet enough that the pattering of the light drizzle on the rooftops could easily be heard.

The silence was broken by a scream.

As the scream rang out through the empty streets, the phone in the police station began to ring. Within moments, it was answered by Lieutenant Roger Raincomprix, who listened for half a minute. “Gotcha. We’ll be right there,” he said gruffly, setting down the phone and slamming down a purple button on the wall.

A loud and distinctive horn blared throughout the police station. As it sounded, several people leaped out of makeshift cots and descended the stairs with Roger close behind. The garage door opened, and the people clambered into a van and drove out with their siren wailing.

“Whatcha got for us, Lieutenant?” one young officer asked.

“The witness didn’t get a good look at the perpetrator, so we can’t be sure who it is or what they’re capable of,” Roger explained. “We’ll have to be extra cautious when—”

“Any civilians in danger?” the young officer interrupted.

“One. The mayor’s daughter.”

“Wow. That’s gonna be interesting.”

Roger sighed. “Look, you’re new to the squad. We’ve rescued the mayor’s daughter countless times. She’s captured by practically every supervillain that comes along. And off the record, I can see why.”

“Did you go after her when you were akumatized, Lieutenant?” the new recruit asked innocently.

Roger turned around and shot the clueless officer a glare. “I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear you ask that, and you’re never going to bring up that event in my presence, ever again.”

The officer nodded. “Sorry, Lieutenant. Where are we headed?”

“To the Grand Palais.” Roger’s expression was becoming increasingly frustrated.

“Any word on whether Spots or Claws will be there?”

“I don’t know. Now could you please stop asking so many questions?”

“Right you are, Lieutenant.”

The van arrived at the Grand Palais within minutes. It came screeching to a halt, the doors flew open, and the officers ran out with their batons at the ready, setting up a perimiter around the entrance.

“Right. I’m going in, so be ready,” Roger ordered. “On three. One, two, three.”

Roger flung open the door, standing at the ready. He looked somewhat crestfallen when nothing happened, and proceeded to take a few steps inside and look around.

“Officer Roger!” a shrill voice yelled from inside. “It’s about time. Now come and get me out of here already!”

Even with as little sunlight as there was this early in the morning, the impressive vaulted glass ceilings of the Grand Palais let in enough light for Roger to see what was going on inside. Two chairs had been positioned on a high balcony overlooking the center of the immense room. One of the chairs contained the mayor’s daughter, who appeared to be secured there somehow, and the other chair was empty. A thin mist was drifting across the floor.

“Chloé, can you hear me?” Roger yelled.

“Of course I can hear you!” Chloé yelled back.

“Who did this? Are they still here?”

“Ugh, who cares?” Chloé snapped back. “Just get me out!”

Roger carefully walked forward into the room, each of his footfalls echoing against the faraway walls.

The silent atmosphere of the empty halls was broken by a chorus of ringtones, as every officer’s phone rang at the exact same time. The officers waiting outside fumbled around, confused, pulling out their phones.

Roger looked at his phone’s screen. It didn’t show a number—all it showed was a wifi symbol, glowing purple.

Something clicked in Roger’s mind, and he whipped around to face his team at the entrance. “It’s a trap! Turn off your phones, or get rid of them—now!”

And as one confused young officer held up their phone, something shot out of it, materializing into a glowing cloud. It took the shape of a person, and gave the officer a forceful blow to the chest, knocking him back several meters. But before the figure had fully materialized, it disappeared back into the phone, which clattered to the ground.

As Roger ran back to help his fallen companion, the figure materialized again out of a different officer’s phone, lifting up the phone’s owner and throwing her into two other officers, knocking them all to the ground. As it dematerialized, the figure shot a bolt of purple energy at the person who had asked so many questions on the ride over. The shocked officer appeared frozen in place, with a glowing purple pause icon on their chest.

Roger assessed his team. The first person who had been hit didn’t appear to be getting back up, but the other three, who had landed in a pile, seemed to be faring somewhat better, and were helping each other to stand. Roger felt proud…his team was tough.

And a maniacal laugh reverberated throughout the room, seemingly emanating from every phone. “Well, well, Officer Roger and his team of fools. You’ve come to try and stop me.”

“Lady Wifi,” Roger growled. “What are you up to?”

“Nothing for you to get your knickers in a twist over,” Lady Wifi coolly responded. “Just exposing the corruption of the city’s government. I’m sure you can empathize with me on that.”

“I’ve changed,” Roger replied. “And now I’m kinda going to have to run you in.”

“Go ahead and try it!” Lady Wifi chuckled. “I’m more than a match for you and your entire team, and you know that. Or alternatively, you can just step aside, and let justice run its course.”

“You don’t get to decide what justice is.”

“I’m no villain, Roger. I’m a vigilante. Doing what needs to be done to make this city a better place.” Lady Wifi materialized on the balcony, clothed in black with a mask on her face and a glowing purple wifi symbol on her chest. She rested her arm on Chloé’s shoulder. “Go ahead and try to arrest me, if you want to. Or if you want to have a chance at actually winning, go fetch Ladybug. I’ve got time.”

In one fluid motion, Roger drew and fired his stun gun, aimed perfectly at his opponent. But Lady Wifi was just as quick, and shot a bolt of purple energy from her phone. As the two projectiles met, the shot fired from Roger’s gun was immobilized in midair, attached to a glowing pause icon.

Lady Wifi casually walked down the curved stairs. She pulled out a bar of chocolate and took a large bite. “I guess if you’re not going to leave me alone I’ll have to deal with you before I get to Chloé,” she announced casually. And in a flash, she disappeared, and jumped out of Roger’s phone, grabbing him from behind.

Roger struggled as Lady Wifi held him in the air. She must have been remarkably strong—Roger estimated he was at least three times as heavy as his opponent. He tried to reach around to grab his taser, but Lady Wifi had securely pinned his arms to his sides. As he struggled, he found himself being thrown violently across the room.

Flying through the air, Roger tried to determine where he’d land, and how likely he was to survive. But just before he landed, he found himself caught by a flying, leather-clad figure, who set him down gently on the ground.

“You’re out of minutes, Lady Wifi,” the figure announced, pulling out a staff and resting it on his shoulder.

Lady Wifi snorted. “As if anybody’s on prepaid anymore. Thanks for showing up, Chat Noir; I was getting bored dealing with these pathetic excuses for police officers.”

Chat Noir ran forward, dodging as Lady Wifi fired several bolts at him. “That’s not a very nice thing to say.”

“Well, I’m not a very nice person,” Lady Wifi retorted. “Say, do you mind letting me do a quick interview before we actually fight? Chloé over there has a few interesting things to say about her father’s corruption.”

“As if!” Chloé yelled. “You’d be wasting your opportunity for an interview. I’m far more interesting than anything my father does.”

“Look,” Chat Noir said as he swung his staff at Lady Wifi, who promptly dematerialized. “I sympathize with your cause, but the fact remains that you’ve been akumatized, and so I’ve got no choice but to stop you. Also, I’d like to have Alya Césaire back.”

“Alya’s been disconnected!” Lady Wifi retorted, leaping out of Roger’s phone and running towards Chat Noir, constantly firing purple bolts from her own phone.

“So reconnect her, then!” Chat Noir said, propelling himself high into the air by extending his staff. “She’s much more pleasant than you.”

Lady Wifi dodged as Chat Noir brought his staff swinging down at her. “Look,” she said as she flicked a purple icon to the ground. “I’ve got a mission, and I’m going to complete it, and nothing you say is going to change my mind.” She stepped onto the icon and it lifted up, carrying her quickly into the air.

Chat Noir raised his hand in the air. “Cataclysm!” he yelled. He pushed off again with his staff, and let it carry him all the way up to the ceiling. As he placed his hand on the vaulted arches, they collapsed, bringing the ceiling coming crashing down on Lady Wifi. She gasped as it descended, but didn’t have quite enough time to dodge before it landed on her.

Landing gracefully next to the pile of rubble, Chat Noir grinned to himself. That had worked very well.

And he didn’t see the bolt of energy flying at him until it was too late.

As Roger looked on, Chat Noir was immobilized in place.

Lady Wifi pulled the rubble off of herself, and glided over toward Chloé on her hovering icon. She flicked yet another icon into the air, and it took the shape of a camera. “All right, Chloé,” Lady Wifi said, “let’s begin.”

And everybody in the room heard an all too familiar sound, of a metal wire wrapping around its target.

A red, spotted figure came swinging into the room, and tackled Lady Wifi from the side. Both careened off the edge of the balcony.

“You never learn, do you, Lady Wifi?” the newcomer said, landing upright as her opponent crashed, sprawled out on the ground. “Every time you concoct one of your diabolical plans, we manage to stop you. Every time. What made you think this time would be different?”

Lady Wifi groaned and tried to stand up. “I thought I’d get lucky, Ladybug.”

Ladybug laughed quietly. “You ought to know your stuff about ladybugs, Lady Wifi. We’re the lucky ones.” She put her foot on Lady Wifi’s back, preventing her from getting up.

Lady Wifi dematerialized. Ladybug sighed, and looked around the room to try to figure out where she might be going. It looked like the most convenient spot for her would be on the far side of the pile of rubble that Chat Noir had created. Ladybug got in position to deal with an attack from that direction.

And sure enough, that was where Lady Wifi appeared, wasting no time before firing many purple bolts in Ladybug’s general direction.

Ladybug jumped to the side and flung her yoyo at the broken ceiling. It latched onto a stray bar, and Ladybug swung on its string in a huge arc across the room, heading feet-first toward Lady Wifi. She missed, and swung up to the top of the roof. “Come and get me, Lady Wifi!” she yelled.

Lady Wifi stepped onto a hovering purple icon and began to rise up.

“Lucky Charm!” Ladybug yelled as her opponent approached. She flung her yoyo into the air, and a small red object condensed above her, falling into her hand.

“A smartphone?” she mumbled. “What the heck am I supposed to do with this?”

Lady Wifi smirked as she rose up to the level of the roof. “What did it give you?” she asked innocently.

Ladybug closed her hands around the small phone. “You’ll never know.” Flinging her yoyo, she departed, landing by the entrance next to Roger’s team of police, most of whom were doing nothing and just watching how the fight was playing out.

Lady Wifi appeared out of one of their phones. “You won’t get away from me that easily, Ladybug. I’m much faster than you are.”

Ladybug swung away towards the back of the building. Hopefully, Lady Wifi hadn’t figured out about the Lucky Charm phone, and hopefully, there weren’t any other phones there. If all went well, Ladybug would have a few seconds before Lady Wifi would arrive.

She knew what to do. Opening a web browser on the phone, she typed in the address of a site that she’d been tricked into opening a few days before. It had tried to download and upload so much data that it clogged the entire network. One of her friends thought that linking to it was a hilarious prank.

Moments later, Lady Wifi appeared on her hovering icon. Ladybug said nothing, and swung back towards the team of police, who were still doing nothing. If all went well, in a moment Lady Wifi would try to appear out of one of their phones.

And she soon did. But the prank website had done its job very well, and Lady Wifi materialized very slowly, taking several seconds to appear as a glowing sillhouette. There really was nothing like having slow internet. In this extra time, Ladybug could see the phone in Lady Wifi’s hand. It wasn’t fully materialized yet, but it was still solid enough for Ladybug to grab. And when Lady Wifi fully solidified, she looked on with a shocked expression as Ladybug smashed her phone into the ground.

“Get out of here, despicable insect!” Ladybug shouted, as a black butterfly wriggled its way out of the broken phone. And as she caught and released the butterfly, turned white by the purifying energy of her yoyo, she was met with cheers from the team of police.

“Bye bye, little butterfly,” Ladybug said quietly, almost to herself. She threw her lucky phone into the bright orange sky, and it exploded in a burst of red energy, which spread out around the area, repairing all the damage that Lady Wifi—and Chat Noir—had done. It even repaired the broken phone.

Lady Wifi collapsed onto the ground, and her mask and outfit faded away. Alya Césaire coughed and looked around. Seeing Ladybug, she gasped. “Oh no, what happened? Did I get akumatized again?”

Ladybug nodded. “Lieutenant Raincomprix will take care of you. I have to go in and find Chat Noir.” Flinging the doors open, she rushed into the room, as she heard Roger say “it’s going to be alright” in response to Alya’s confused and frightened mumbling.

“Chat Noir, are you okay?” Ladybug shouted, looking around the room. She found her partner sprawled on the ground.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Chat Noir replied, brushing himself off and standing up. “Sorry, I was disoriented by the pause button, and when it faded I didn’t manage to keep my balance. Did you beat her?”

Ladybug nodded. “Alya’s outside now; the police are taking care of her.”

“Good. Let’s go meet with them, shall we?”

And Ladybug and Chat Noir were met with cheers as they exited the building, hand in hand.

“You saved Paris, Ladybug!” one officer shouted happily. “Thank you!”

“Good work, Ladybug!” another yelled.

Roger walked up to the heroes. “Good work in there. The mayor told me that the next time I saw you, I should tell you that he’d like to meet with you for an important discussion. He says to just drop by his office during normal visiting hours, as soon as you get the chance, and he’ll cancel everything in order to meet with you.”

Chat Noir looked over to Ladybug. “I’m free this afternoon and on Thursday.”

“This afternoon, then,” Ladybug replied. “Does 5:30 work?”

Chat Noir nodded. “I’ll make it work.”

“Excellent!” Ladybug heard her earring beeping as the penultimate spot blinked off. “Pleasure seeing you all, but I’m about to detransform. Bug out!” Flinging her yoyo, she swung away and rounded a corner.

Chat Noir checked his ring and saw that the paw print was nearly gone. “I’ve gotta go too,” he announced. “Still trying to think of a good catchphrase to use.” He flashed Roger a quick salute, and ran off down the street, rounding a corner and vanishing.

Roger grinned slightly to himself. Yes, this would go down as a failure on the part of his team, and it was disheartening that they couldn’t take down Lady Wifi without assistance. And yes, he was somewhat worried that the origins and motivations of thee heroes were so unknown. But all the same, the city was under their protection. They were a failsafe: with them around, things would turn out okay in the end, no matter how many mistakes Roger might make.

That being said, he wasn’t going to let his team know how he felt on this issue. They needed to be whipped into shape—so that the next time Lady Wifi came around, they’d be ready, and they’d be able to take her down.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the aftermath of Lady Wifi's attack, Marinette helps Alya to get through a day at school.

As Alya walked up to her school through the falling drizzle, rubbing her eyes and trying to stay awake, she was met by a concerned-looking girl with short blonde hair. “I heard you got akumatized again,” the girl began. “Are you all right?”

Alya nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just tired. It just had to happen in the middle of the night, didn’t it?”

“Anything you need me to get you? A croissant? An apple? Cup of juice?”

Alya put her hand on the girl’s shoulder. “Thanks, Rose, but I think I’m all set for now.”

Rose nodded. “Don’t hesitate to let me know if there’s anything you need. We’re here for you.”

With a nod and a smile, Alya entered the school and walked up the stairs to her classroom. Class had already started. Alya carefully opened the door, trying to make as little sound as possible, and sat down next to a very tired-looking girl with bluish-black hair.

“Morning, Marinette,” she whispered.

The girl blinked a couple times. “Morning, Alya,” she whispered back. “You look exhausted.”

“Not nearly as much as you do,” Alya replied. “What were you doing last night?”

“I was, uh…” Marinette stuttered for a moment. “There was a problem with the plumbing. It started hissing and clanking in the middle of the night, and woke my parents up. They were worried, so they had to call in a plumber, who ended up actually being—”

“Marinette!” the class’s teacher interjected. “If you want to talk to Alya, the place for that is outside the classroom.”

Marinette nodded. “Sorry, Ms. Bustier.”

After waiting a few minutes to ensure Ms. Bustier wasn’t looking, Alya leaned over to Marinette and pointed at the blond-haired boy sitting in front of them. “Adrien looks pretty tired too, did you notice? I’d thought at first that maybe he’d been doing something in the middle of the night and you’d been spying on him.”

“Me? Spying?” Marinette drew back, seemingly affronted. “I don’t spy on people.”

Alya stifled a laugh. “I’m pretty sure that at some point you’ve spied on every person in this room. And on Adrien more than everybody else combined.”

Marinette put her head in her hands. “Is it really that obvious?”

“Excuse me, Ms. Bustier?” a shrill voice called out. “I can’t concentrate with those two chattering away over there.”

Both Marinette and Alya turned their heads to look at Chloé Bourgeois, who flashed them a smug look from the front seat.

Ms. Bustier turned to look at Marinette and Alya again. “That’s enough, you two! Go to the principal’s office.”

Rose stood up in the back of the classroom. “Excuse me, but Alya was akumatized last night, so perhaps you could go easy on her?”

Ms. Bustier sighed. “Thank you, Rose, but the school’s policy only states that as a victim of akumatization, Alya was not required to attend classes today. The policy does not excuse disrupting class, and I fail to see how even an akuma would justify her doing so. So, Alya and Marinette, go see Mr. Damocles.”

Alya sighed and picked up her backpack, walking toward the door. Marinette followed behind her.

“You too, Chloé,” Ms. Bustier added.

Chloé stood up, looking shocked. “Me?! But I was helping you enforce the school rules. You should be grateful!”

Ms. Bustier shook her head. “Chloé, you do this all the time. You need to learn that it’s unacceptable to constantly cause other students to be disciplined.”

“My father will hear about this!” Chloé yelled.

“Of course, I’ll be telling him myself,” Ms. Bustier coolly replied. “Now go, Chloé.”

Chloé huffed, and joined Marinette and Alya at the door. All three walked along the balcony toward the principal’s office.

“It’s ridiculous!” Chloé pouted. “Absolutely ridiculous!”

“Well, you didn’t have to say anything,” Alya pointed out.

Chloé turned to Alya, angrily. “This is all your fault, you know. You’re the one that kept me up all night, locking me to a chair in the Grand Palais. Don’t think I’ve forgotten! I’m sure my father will have a few choice words about that.”

“Is that what you’re going to say to Mr. Damocles, too?” Alya asked. “That your father will hear about this?”

“Oh, he most certainly will!”

“Come on, Chloé!” Alya persisted. “That’s your solution for everything! Think of some new excuses for once!”

Chloé shrugged. “Why? The current one works well enough. I can get away with anything. Speaking of which…” Chloé drew back her hand and smacked Alya across the face.

Marinette gasped. “Alya! Are you all right?”

Alya wiped her face. “Yeah, I’m fine.” She cracked her knuckles. “But this nightmare blonde is so gonna get it now.” Without hesitating even for a moment, Alya lunged forward and tackled Chloé, knocking her to the ground and pummeling her chest.

“Alya, stop!” Marinette yelled. “You’re only going to make things worse for yourself!”

“As long as I make things worse for her too, I’m okay with that,” Alya growled.

There wasn’t any contest. Once Alya had Chloé pinned down, she’d already won. But she still made a point of getting several licks in before letting Chloé stand up.

Chloé coughed and brushed off her clothes. “This was a new jacket, you brat. And now my hair’s messed up, too! You’ll pay for this!”

Ms. Bustier chose that moment to run out of the classroom, followed by Adrien as well as several other students. “Chloé, Alya—what do you think you’re doing?!”

“She attacked me!” Chloé yelled.

“She hit me first!” Alya retorted.

Ms. Bustier grabbed both of them by their arms. “All right, I’ve had enough. You’re suspended for a week, both of you.”

“What?!” Chloé exclaimed. “I’ll call my father this instant. He can get you fired, you know!”

“Don’t even think about it, Chloé,” Ms. Bustier said sternly. “I’ll be writing him a letter myself, explaining how you clearly violated established school rules.”

Chloé opened her mouth for a moment and then closed it, clearly not knowing what to say.

“Ladybug isn’t here to save you this time, Chloé,” Alya said smugly.

“Your mother works for my father. I can get her fired too, you know,” Chloé shot back.

“That’s enough, Chloé!” Ms. Bustier insisted. “Gather your things and go.”

Chloé turned away and left in a huff.

“I guess I’ll be seeing you next week, then, Marinette?” Alya asked as she picked up her bag.

“Don’t be ridiculous! We can still see each other at lunch and in the afternoon,” Marinette replied. “I can help keep you up to date on what you’ll be missing from class.”

“If my mom doesn’t ground me, yeah, that would be good. You’re free this afternoon, right?”

“Um…something’s come up in the afternoon, actually. But lunch is fine.”

“All right, everybody,” Ms. Bustier said, “come back into the classroom. You too, Marinette.”

“I thought I was supposed to go to the principal’s office?” Marinette asked.

Ms. Bustier sighed. “Forget it. Just please try not to disrupt class.”

When classes let out for lunch a few hours later, Marinette heard a voice behind her.

“Hey, do you know what happened this morning when Alya got akumatized?”

Marinette whipped around. “Oh! Adrien! Um, hi.” She waved tentatively.

Adrien returned her wave with a smile, and then rested his hand behind his head. “I just thought that since you two were so close, she might have told you some of the details on what went down. If she’s comfortable with it being shared, of course.”

“Oh, um,” Marinette stammered, “there wasn’t—I mean, she didn’t say anything about it. She didn’t remember anything.”

“Right, of course, nobody remembers. How silly of me.”

“You’re not silly, you’re gorgeous,” Marinette blurted out.

“Sorry?”

“Oh, I mean, yeah, you’re right,” Marinette recovered.

“Well, what have you heard other people saying? I’m curious about what happened.”

“It’s on the news, isn’t it? The news is probably more reliable than I am.”

“Well, yeah, but I’m curious what people are saying about it.”

“Why are you so curious about this?”

Now Adrien began to stammer. “Well, I…I always like to stay up to date on akuma attacks.”

“Well, all I know is that Lady Wifi captured Chloé and tried to get some sort of information from her. The cops showed up but weren’t a match for her. And then Ladybug came in and beat her.”

“Just Ladybug? What about Chat Noir?”

Marinette paused a moment. “Yeah, I think I heard he was there too.”

Adrien looked a little crestfallen. “Great. Thanks, Marinette.” He turned to walk away.

Now Marinette was confused. He’d seemed disappointed by her answers. What had she said wrong?

“You know,” a voice said from behind Marinette, “I’m amazed you haven’t figured out what he’s playing at.”

Marinette turned around, facing a girl with long brown hair, who had been silent throughout the entirety of the morning classes. “And what exactly is that, might I ask?”

“I’ll let you figure that out for yourself,” the girl replied coolly. “It also explains why he looks so tired. You do too, I might add…I wonder why.”

“What do you want, Lila?” Marinette coldly asked.

Lila leaned forward, lowering her eyebrows. “There’s something going on. I want to uncover the truth.”

Marinette let out a sharp laugh. “That’s ironic, coming from you.”

Lila shrugged. “I use truth and lack thereof to my own advantage. If I’m going to lie about something, I need to know the truth first. I guess that’s why you’re such a bad liar, since you know nothing in the first place.”

The two maintained cold stares at each other for several seconds.

Lila was the first to crack a smile. “Seriously, though, you look exhausted. Come on, let’s get some lunch.”

Marinette smiled in return, and put her arm around Lila. “So what’s actually going on with Adrien?”

“It’s a secret,” Lila replied.

“Oh, come on! Tell me!”

“Where’s the fun in that?”

Lila and Marinette walked down the stairs and out the door, crossing the street and entering the small corner bakery on the bank of the Seine.

“Hello, Marinette!” the woman behind the counter called out. “Oh, and hi Lila! Nice to see you! Where’s Alya today?”

“Oh, that’s right,” Marinette realized. “I should call her, and see if she wants to join us for lunch. Is that okay with you, Lila?”

Lila nodded, as she and Marinette picked out their lunches. “All right. I don’t think she likes me very much, though.”

Marinette looked up, surprised. “Why do you say that?”

Lila sighed. “Oh, this and that. I think she’s still holding a grudge from that interview on her blog when I duped her. And I don’t think she likes what I’ve been saying about Ladybug.”

“What have you been saying about Ladybug?” Marinette asked as they walked to find a place to sit down.

“Oh, just that I don’t think she’s as much of a hero as people say. You know, I haven’t ever heard you say much about Ladybug. What do you think of her?”

Marinette seemed taken aback. “What do I think of Ladybug? Um, not that much, actually. I don’t know that much about her.”

Lila pressed on. “But do you like her?”

“Yeah, I mean, she’s okay, I guess.”

“You don’t want to talk about her?”

“No! I mean, sure. I mean, I don’t know?”

Lila sighed. “You know, the only other times I’ve seen you act like this is when you talk about Adrien.”

“Act like what? I’m just acting the way I always do.”

Lila leaned forward with a mischevous smile. “Marinette, do you maybe have a little crush on Ladybug?”

Marinette’s eyes widened, almost threatening to pop out of her face, which had turned bright red. “Um, what? No! Not at all!”

“Really?” Lila asked, raising one eyebrow.

Marinette sputtered somewhat, unable to find any words.

“Because I do, at least a little,” Lila continued. “Kinda ironic, considering I don’t really trust her as a hero.”

Somehow, Marinette’s eyes managed to widen even more, and her face turned an even brighter shade of red. “Oh, hey, I forgot to call Alya,” she squeaked.

Lila nodded. “Go ahead and call her.” She paused as Marinette took out her phone. “You know, she’s got feelings for Ladybug too.”

Marinette let out a high-pitched noise that until that point she wasn’t aware she was capable of producing.

“Are you all right, Marinette?’

“Yeah,” Marinette said in a voice that sounded decidedly not all right. “I just realized I, um…forgot something. Let me call Alya now.”

Alya arrived a few minutes later, when most of the red had faded out of Marinette’s face. “Hey all,” she said. “My mom decided not to ground me. But that’s pretty much the only good news that’s come out of this.”

“Oh, no, what happened?” Lila asked, sounding concerned.

“Well, apparently the mayor’s actually threatening to fire my mother. I guess Chloé really insisted.”

Both Marinette’s and Lila’s jaws dropped. “That’s low, even for her,” Marinette breathed.

“It’s not official yet, but apparently she heard secondhand that he was planning to notify her in the next couple days.”

“That’s completely unfair!” Lila exclaimed. “The mayor shouldn’t get to fire her over something you did!”

“Well, it doesn’t seem he can ever say no to Chloé,” Alya sighed. “Now I’m worried for Ms. Bustier as well.”

“He wouldn’t,” Marinette gasped.

“Does he even have the authority to fire her?” Lila asked.

“Well, not directly. I looked it up. He has authority over Mr. Damocles, and Mr. Damocles has authority over Ms. Bustier. So he can try to force Mr. Damocles to fire her. And Mr. Damocles never stands up to him.”

“Is there anything we can do about it?” Lila asked.

Alya shook her head. “Not really. The mayor isn’t known for listening to reason. And no, Lila, you shouldn’t try to lie to him. That could actually get you arrested.”

“If I got caught,” Lila pointed out. “I hardly ever get caught. If I can deceive you the way I did, I’m sure I can deceive this imbecile of a mayor.”

Alya narrowed her eyes. “Lila, could you please not bring that up right now?”

Lila nodded. “Sorry.”

“Here’s an idea,” Marinette tried. “What if you make a post to your blog describing the situation, and you raise awareness and tell people exactly what’s going on? Then, the mayor won’t be able to fire her, because he’ll risk having a scandal on his hands!”

Alya’s eyes brightened. “That’s a great idea, Marinette! I’ll get right on that. Do you want to help me out with it?”

“While you two work on that, I think I’ll come up with a plan to murder Chloé,” Lila decided. “Don’t worry, I’ll let her live until after this whole deal has settled down. Wouldn’t want to make the mayor even more angry.”

Marinette put her arm around Lila’s shoulder. “We don’t have to murder anyone, Lila.”

Lila clenched her fist. “You know what I mean. Chloé’s just awful, and someone needs to put her in check. Even if that doesn’t mean resorting to actual murder.”

Marinette turned back to Alya. “Well, we can talk more about this in a few minutes. But you look hungry—you should go in and pick something out for lunch! My mom will certainly be happy to see you.”

Alya nodded. “Good call, thanks. I’ll be back out in a minute.”

And it was then that Marinette had an idea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, but seriously, I'm a total sucker for a three-way friendship between Marinette, Alya, and Lila.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ladybug and Chat Noir meet with Mayor Bourgeois to discuss the city's future.

As the sun set, the Eiffel Tower lit up, shining brightly over the City of Light. Marinette looked over to the tower, and then back up at the Hôtel de Ville.

A small red creature flew out of Marinette’s bag and hovered next to her face. “What are you going to say to the mayor?”

“Well, he’s the one that invited me, isn’t he?” Marinette replied. “I’ll let him start the conversation.”

“You’ll want to be careful what you say,” the creature pointed out. “He may be Chloé’s dad, but he’s also one of the most powerful people in the city. Not somebody you want to get on the wrong side of. And you also don’t want to reveal your secret identity, do you?”

“Of course, Tikki. I already know all that, you don’t need to tell me.”

“Yes I do,” Tikki insisted. “Because if I say nothing, you won’t be careful.”

“Fair point,” Marinette sighed. “Do you see anybody watching?”

Both Marinette and Tikki looked around the area. “Nope, all clear,” Tikki determined.

“All right then. Time to transform. Tikki, spots on!”

And moments later, Ladybug swung towards the door of the Hôtel de Ville.

 

The mayor looked up as he heard a knock on his office door. “Ladybug, is that you?” he asked.

Chat Noir pushed the door open. “No, it’s me. Hello, Mr. Mayor.”

“Oh, Chat Noir!” the mayor said, looking somewhat startled. “Good evening.”

Chat Noir seemed to notice the mayor’s hesitance. “You were expecting us, weren’t you? You said to drop by any time during normal visiting hours.”

“Yes, yes, of course. Come in, Chat Noir.”

“You were only expecting Ladybug,” Chat Noir realized.

The mayor nodded. “But of course I’m happy to see you as well, Chat Noir. Will Ladybug be arriving soon?”

“Any minute now.”

And moments later, Ladybug entered the office. “Hello, Chat Noir; good evening, Mr. Mayor.”

“Please, sit down, both of you,” the mayor offered, directing them to a small table with two chairs. He pulled a third chair over from behind his desk. All three took their seats.

“So, let’s talk,” the mayor began. “My city—our city—is under threat. As the mayor, I need to know the nature of this threat, and I need to know how it can be stopped. Since you two have significant experience in this area, it will greatly benefit me if you share what you know.”

“The entity behind all these recent attacks is a man who is known only by the name of Hawkmoth,” Chat Noir explained. “We don’t know who or where he is, and we don’t know what he wants, but we know how he operates.”

“And how exactly does he operate? By creating the supervillains that have been attacking us, correct?”

“That’s right,” Chat Noir replied. “Hawkmoth preys on negative emotions. He encourages them, amplifies them, and exploits them. Any negative emotion can lead to anger. Once he’s found this anger in somebody, that’s when he moves in, and infects them with a black butterfly—an akuma. And once somebody’s possessed by one of those, then they become Hawkmoth’s plaything. He can control their actions and give them deadly powers.”

“And how can these villains be stopped? That’s what you do, Ladybug, is it not?”

“We do it together,” Ladybug answered. “Chat Noir and I will fight the villain and determine their weaknesses. And once we know that, we can break the object containing the akuma. Once I catch the akuma and purify it with my yoyo, then Hawkmoth loses his control of the villain, and they lose their powers.”

“And who exactly are these villains? Are they people who work for Hawkmoth, or are they just anybody who’s naturally bad? Who’s safe and who isn’t?”

“Nobody is safe,” Ladybug explained. “Anybody in Paris, good or bad, can be akumatized whenever they feel strong negative emotions. So if somebody’s had a particularly bad day, they might become the next villain. And there’s no telling where Hawkmoth will strike until it happens. This is why he’s so dangerous.”

“But he can only control one person at a time,” Chat Noir added. “With exceptions, of course. Once, a villain brought back several of our enemies at once.”

The mayor nodded. “This is all very useful information. Now, this morning you encountered my elite villain control task force. How well did they fare against Lady Wifi?”

“To be perfectly frank, they didn’t have a chance,” Chat Noir replied. “She was toying with them. Lieutenant Raincomprix would likely be dead if I hadn’t saved him.”

“And we’re certainly grateful for that, of course. So what could you tell us that might help us to defeat Lady Wifi if she attacks again in the future?”

“The easiest way to beat her is to take out the wifi signal. We’ve used that to beat her a few times in the past. But she’s still dangerous then—even when she can’t use her phone, she’s very strong and very fast, so you can’t afford to hesitate.”

“If you can manage to break her phone,” Ladybug added, “then that’ll release the akuma, and that’ll stop her for good. But it’s essential to catch the akuma before it flies away. It can pass through glass and through even the narrowest cracks. When you catch it, it’s essential that you keep it safe until I can come by and purify it.”

The mayor was jotting down notes on a small notebook he had pulled out of his pocket. “And Lady Wifi’s secret identity is…Alya Césaire? The administrator of the Ladyblog?”

Ladybug nodded.

“Excellent. We’re trying to note down as much as possible about the different villains that we’ve already encountered, in order to prepare the task force. All we’ve got are their identities. Would you be able to tell us about a few other people that we’re lacking information on?”

“Go ahead.”

“What do you know about Chronogirl?”

Ladybug scratched her chin. “She’s a time traveler. By touching people, she can freeze them in time, and she can use their energy to travel a few minutes into the past. She’s very fast on her rollerblades, so she’s quite deadly. But she can’t skate through rough terrain, and that’s how we managed to get the skates and free the akuma.”

“And what about Dislocoeur?”

“He’s a flying archer, like Cupid, except the arrows he shoots bring about hatred instead of love. So anybody who he shoots turns against all the people they care about. But he’s vulnerable to love; we learned a kiss can free somebody from his power. His akuma is in his quiver pin, and we got it by tricking him into touching a sticky object, so he couldn’t properly shoot arrows.”

“And what about…Evillustrator, I think this says. Odd name.”

“I’ve got this one,” Chat Noir said. “He’s an artist. Anything he draws on his tablet will appear in real life, and he can erase any object from existence. I’d say he’s the most powerful villain we’ve faced. But he usually doesn’t have malevolent intentions. He’s just very emotional, and prone to making bad decisions. If he were truly evil, I don’t think we’d have been able to beat him. But he can’t draw in the dark, so when we cut the lights we were able to snatch his pen and get the akuma.”

The mayor jotted down a few more notes. “And then lastly, the most perplexing of all of them. Who was Volpina? We all saw her on the news, but nobody knows the full story. Was she a hero like you two, or a villain?”

“She was definitely a villain,” Ladybug replied. “She tried to appear as a hero to trick everybody into trusting her. But after that, nobody was exactly sure what was true and what wasn’t. Her power was illusion, and she made illusions by playing her flute, but the illusions would disappear when touched. She’s not too hard to beat once you know that she doesn’t have any powers besides illusion, and that the akuma’s in her necklace.”

The mayor finished writing his notes. “Thank you so much. I’ll pass on this information on to the task force.” He closed his notebook. “I notice that all four of these people are students at the same school as my daughter. In the same class, even. Is this part of an ongoing plot against my daughter?”

“Which school does she go to?” Ladybug asked with a slight stammer.

“Collège Françoise Dupont, isn’t it?” Chat Noir replied. “We’ve had to go there a few times. It’s an interesting connection you’ve made there, Mr. Mayor, and we should probably investigate it, don’t you think, my lady?”

Ladybug nodded. “I don’t know why Hawkmoth would be targeting this school in particular, but you can rest assured that we’ll figure out the reason.”

“I don’t want you to figure out the reason,” the mayor retorted. “I want you to stop Hawkmoth, because every moment of his presence here is a moment when my daughter is in danger.”

“Of course we’re trying to stop Hawkmoth!” Ladybug insisted. “It’s not an easy task…we haven’t been able to figure out where he is, who he is, or what his weaknesses are. But we’re working on it, and we hope to bring him down as soon as possible. Until then, we just have to keep fighting the villains he throws our way.”

“What exactly is this Hawkmoth person trying to do?” the mayor asked. “What’s the point of creating all these villains?”

“He wants our powers,” Ladybug replied. “He’s trying to steal our Miraculouses—the objects that give us our power. We don’t know why, but we can only assume he has evil plans for them.”

The mayor narrowed his eyes. “You’re telling me that you two are the cause of all these attacks?”

Ladybug put her hands up defensively. “Not at all! It’s much more complicated. If we just left the city, for instance, he’d keep up the attacks in order to bring us back. But if we gave him our Miraculouses, there’s no telling how much damage he could do. Believe me, we’ve thought through all the possibilities.”

The mayor’s face softened. “Okay, I see. Thank you, Ladybug.” He stood up and retrieved a box from his desk. “Don’t get me wrong, we’re very grateful for everything you’ve been doing.” He set the box down in front of Ladybug. “In fact, I’m pleased to inform you that in a few days time, there will be a ceremony to award you this medal of honor, in recognition of the services you’ve done for the city.”

Ladybug gasped as she opened the box and pulled out a shiny, golden medal, engraved with her own image. With wide eyes, she looked closely at the engraved name and design in the light.

But her thrill was short-lived. “Wait a minute,” she said, “Chat Noir isn’t on here.”

“This medal’s for you, Ladybug,” the mayor explained. “As the one who defeats the villains and purifies the akumas, you deserve it.”

Ladybug looked at Chat Noir’s shocked face, and set down the medal. “I’m sorry, Mr. Mayor, but Chat Noir and I are a team. I couldn’t do what I do without him. We support each other and work together. We may not do the same things, but our roles in defeating these villains are equally vital. I can’t accept a medal unless he gets one as well.”

The mayor sighed resignedly. “If you insist. I’ll have a medal cast for him, and we’ll honor him at the ceremony as well.”

Chat Noir stood up, the look of shock and anguish not gone from his face. “I think I’d best be going,” he said quietly, and turned to leave the room.

“That’s fine,” the mayor replied, “we’ve covered what we need to cover. Thank you both for being here.”

Chat Noir slammed the door behind him as he left the office.

As the door shut, Ladybug turned to the mayor. “Now that he’s gone, there’s something I wanted to tell you.”

“And what is that, Ladybug?”

Ladybug leaned in. “I have eyes everywhere,” she said in the most intimidating voice she could manage. “I see things that are happening all across the city. For instance, I know that today your daughter started a fight and was suspended from her school for a week.”

The mayor stood up and straightened his tie. “My daughter was wrongfully attacked, and was unjustly punished.”

“In fact, Mr. Mayor, I know that not to be the case. Your daughter provoked, attacked, and threatened another student, breaking several of her school’s rules in the process, and her punishment was administered fairly.”

“I’m sure you can’t possibly know the finer details of the situation,” the mayor huffed.

“Oh, I most certainly do, Mr. Mayor. And I also know that she convinced you to fire both her teacher and the mother of the other student in the fight from their respective jobs. And additionally, I know that you aren’t going to do this.”

“And what makes you think that?” the mayor said, sounding worried.

“Because I know the truth,” Ladybug coldly replied. “And because the people of Paris like me more than they like you. So if you go through with firing these two women, I will tell the people of Paris exactly what you did, and you’ll lose all hope of reelection.”

“Are you blackmailing me, Ladybug?”

“Yes, I am. Just like your daughter did to the girl she fought with. And if you didn’t want this, you shouldn’t have gotten yourself into a situation you could be blackmailed over.”

The mayor huffed, clearly not knowing what to say.

“My advice to you, Mr. Mayor, is to not cater to your daughter’s every whim. She needs to learn her boundaries. And if you won’t step in and enforce them, I will. Consider this a warning.”

Without waiting for an answer, Ladybug turned and walked out the door and down the stairs, exiting through the main entrance.

Once she was out of the building, she transformed in a flash of light. And Marinette stood by the building walls, with Tikki floating beside her.

“What did I tell you about not getting on the wrong side of the mayor?” Tikki chided.

Marinette sighed. “This was the only way I could think of to save Ms. Bustier and Alya’s mom.”

“What happened to the plan we made beforehand?”

“Okay, fine, Tikki. I messed up. But at least we got the right outcome.”

“Yeah, except now you’ve destroyed the mayor’s trust in you, just when it was about to be secured.”

“What could he do to me? He needs me, in order to keep the city safe.”

“You’re treading on dangerous ground, Marinette. Yes, you’re safe for now, but things aren’t going to stay the same. And someday, the mayor might try to get his revenge.”

Marinette groaned. “This is too much to deal with.”

“You’re learning,” Tikki replied casually. “Now you’ll know not to mess with powerful people in this way.”

“And at least we saved the jobs of my teacher and my best friend’s mom.”

“True,” Tikki replied. “We’ve got some benefits in the short term. How are you going to break the news to Alya?”

“I think I’ll let her find out on her own,” Marinette decided. “It would be difficult to tell her without revealing my secret identity.”

Tikki poked Marinette on the shoulder. “See, I was right! You are learning.”

Marinette nodded. “And now I’m going to go home and get to bed. Remember, I got maybe four hours of sleep last night because of dealing with Lady Wifi.”

“A good decision,” Tikki said. “Always make sure to take care of your own health.”

And Marinette and Tikki walked off, illuminated by the last rays of the setting sun.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien struggles with the belief that he will never truly be the hero he deserves to be.

Adrien collapsed on his bed as the dim light of the moon shone through his window. “They hate me, Plagg,” he whispered. “I’ll never be good enough for them.”

The small, black, floating cat-like creature hovering over Adrien’s desk looked up from his piece of cheese. “Don’t say that!” he said. “The work you do as Chat Noir is truly heroic. It’s not your fault they don’t recognize that. You should be proud of yourself.”

“Since when are you moral support?” Adrien asked.

“I’m moral support when you need it,” Plagg replied. “Because if I don’t give you support, you might make a bad decision, and neither of us wants that.”

“Well, if you’re moral support, then explain to me why I shouldn’t believe what literally everyone’s saying. They’re saying that I’m a useless hero, and that I’ll never be as powerful as Ladybug.”

“Nobody’s saying that,” Plagg insisted. “It’s not true. My Miraculous is the most powerful of them all!”

“Those officers at the Grand Palais. They were cheering for Ladybug, not me. Even though both of us fought Lady Wifi.”

“Ladybug had done something seconds before. They were only congratulating her in the moment.”

“And Alya said to Chloé, ‘Ladybug’s not here to save you this time.’”

“Who knows if she was even talking about this specific time? Ladybug’s saved Chloé lots of times. Big deal. There are plenty of people you’ve saved more often than Ladybug has, too.”

“And Marinette said that Ladybug beat Lady Wifi, but only remembered me when I specifically asked her.”

“What, you’re going by something Marinette says? She can hardly ever get any words out around you. It’s a wonder she managed to say one name, let alone two.”

“And then the mayor didn’t even expect me, and had the medal of honor made just for Ladybug, not me!”

“Look, what all these people think doesn’t matter. Ladybug herself said that she couldn’t do anything without you.”

“But she’s still the one seen as doing everything. I’m only her helper, her sidekick, her second-in-command.”

“It’s still a vital role.”

“Yeah, and you know what? It sucks. We should be partners, not master and apprentice!” Adrien looked at the silver ring on his finger. “This shouldn’t be called a Miraculous. It’s caused no miracles. It’s only made things worse.”

“Adrien, wait!” Plagg shouted. “Don’t—”

Adrien removed his ring, and Plagg vanished with a quiet pinging noise.

Adrien looked in the mirror, and saw the tears streaming down his face. That wasn’t the face of a hero. It was the face of a sad young boy who until now had thought he’d actually meant something.

He held the silver ring in the palm of his hand, then turned and threw it as hard as he could out the open window.

And Adrien collapsed on his bed, sobbing into his pillow.

 

A small green creature sleeping in a matchbox opened his eyes. “Master, master!” he shouted as he flew out of the box toward a small man with grey hair.

“Master Fu, what is that thing?” the woman next to him exclaimed.

Master Fu gulped. “I’ll explain momentarily. Could you excuse us for a minute?” He walked over to a small closet and stepped inside; the green creature followed.

“Wayzz, I told you not to come out of the matchbox when I have clients here!” Master Fu said angrily.

“I’m sorry, Master,” Wayzz replied, “but this is deeply troubling. I can no longer feel the aura of Plagg.”

Master Fu fingered his beard. “I take it Adrien was not as strong as I had hoped?”

“I don’t know exactly why Plagg has vanished. But this could potentially be disastrous. There are many things that could happen.”

Master Fu nodded. “You’re right, this is quite dangerous.”

“So what should we do?”

“We must have patience, Wayzz. Remember, Tikki will sense Plagg’s disappearance, too. Soon, she and Marinette will come to us.”

Wayzz nodded. “And when she does, will it be time to release another Miraculous?”

Master Fu shook his head. “I have faith in Marinette and in Tikki. They should be able to do what needs to be done. And now, I have a client to talk to. That’s going to be fun. Stay in here for now.”

Master Fu exited the closet, shutting the door behind him. “All right, Ms. Chamack,” Wayzz heard him say calmly. “It’s time for us to do some memory exercises.”

 

Tikki’s eyes snapped open. “Marinette, wake up!”

Marinette groaned, picked up her head, and rubbed her eyes, looking around her dimly lit bedroom. “What time is it?”

“It’s about nine in the evening. You’ve only been asleep for half an hour.”

“I need my sleep, Tikki.”

“Yes, but this is urgent. I felt Plagg’s aura disappear.”

Marinette groaned. “Who the heck is Plagg?”

“He’s the kwami that gives Chat Noir his powers. He and I are old friends. The fact that he’s disappeared is very bad. Terrible things could happen.”

“Can’t this wait until tomorrow?” Marinette yawned.

Tikki shook her head. “We have to find out what happened as soon as possible, if we want to make it right before it gets worse.”

Marinette planted her face in her pillow and began to snore.

Tikki sighed, and flew out the window into the night.

“Wait!” Marinette shouted, sitting up as her kwami departed. “What terrible things are you talking about? How could it get worse?”

 

“I feel the impassioned cries of a troubled soul,” Hawkmoth declared as his rose window slid open, and a butterfly came to rest in the palm of his hand.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette wakes to learn about several explosions that had happened while she was sleeping, and investigates rumors of an unknown hero that showed up to save the day.

Marinette was awoken by the beeping of her alarm. She picked up her head and looked around the room. “Tikki, where are you?”

Tikki was sprawled out on Marinette’s desk. “Good morning, Marinette,” she groaned.

“Tikki, you look awful!” Marinette exclaimed, rushing over and holding Tikki in her hands.

“I’m fine,” Tikki replied. “I was just out all night.”

“What were you doing?”

“I was trying to find the Cat Miraculous.”

“Did you get it?”

Tikki pointed to a small silver ring resting on the edge of Marinette’s desk.

Marinette picked up the ring in her other hand. “What am I supposed to do with this?” she asked.

“This isn’t one of your lucky charms; there isn’t one clear answer,” Tikki responded. “I think we need to take it to the Great Guardian.”

“Why? What would he do with it?”

“Plagg is currently trapped inside there. The Guardian knows how to free him. If we can talk to Plagg, he can help us figure out how to save Chat Noir.”

“So what’s happening to Chat Noir right now?”

“I don’t know. Any number of things could be happening. But the fact that Plagg is gone suggests that he willingly removed the Miraculous.”

“But why would he do that?”

“Do you remember what happened at the mayor’s office?”

“I blackmailed the mayor, yes. What does that have to do with it?”

“I’m not talking about when you blackmailed the mayor. I’m talking about when he offered the medal of honor to you, but not Chat Noir.”

“But I made sure Chat Noir would be honored too!”

“And you think that made everything better? It doesn’t change the fact that the mayor didn’t think him worthy of the same honor as you. That’s gotta be hard for him.”

Something clicked in Marinette’s mind. “Are you suggesting that since Chat Noir doesn’t have his Miraculous, he’s vulnerable to being akumatized?”

Tikki nodded grimly. “Maybe you should check the news and see if there have been any akuma attacks while you were sleeping.”

Marinette nodded and pulled out her tablet. “Oh no,” she breathed as she read over the latest news. “There were three.”

Tikki hovered by Marinette’s head and watched a clip from a recent news broadcast.

“And now, we’re coming to you live from the site of the explosion on the Champs-Élysées,” Nadja Chamack reported. “We don’t know who or what caused the explosion, but the damage is clearly visible as spanning across two buildings. It appears there are somehow zero casualties, with may have something to do with reports from several excited witnesses who describe a caped hero flying into the buildings and rescuing people. While we don’t have any footage of this hero, photos taken by onlookers show a hooded figure in a colorful costume, with a long blue cape.”

Marinette paused the video and closely examined the photo. “We’ve dealt with fake heroes before. Do you think this person is akumatized?”

“Could be,” Tikki replied. “Or perhaps the akumatized person was the one who caused the explosion, and thereby drew this hero out.”

Marinette resumed playing the video.

“I’m getting word from the other disaster sites now, and it seems that even there, this mysterious hero showed up to save the day,” Nadja Chamack continued. “Witnesses are thrilled, and are quick to shout the praises of this hero. But is this person to be trusted? And what explains the mysterious absences of Ladybug and Chat Noir? We’ll be back in a few minutes with more details on the three attacks. Until then, I’m Nadja Chamack: don’t be bemused, it’s just the news!”

“This seems quite suspicious, Tikki,” Marinette remarked. “I agree, it’s almost definitely connected to what’s happening with Chat Noir.” She checked the time. “But now I need to leave for school.”

“No, Marinette, you can’t!” Tikki insisted. “We have to resolve this issue as soon as possible.”

“Yeah, but I can’t miss school for it. Just imagine that; Ms. Bustier would be furious!”

“Marinette, you need to get your priorities in order. Paris is under threat; I think that’s more important than whether you get in trouble with your teacher.”

Marinette sighed. “You’re right, Tikki. So what do we do?”

“Like I said, we have to go see the Great Guardian. He’ll be able to get Plagg out of the Cat Miraculous, and I’m sure he’ll have invaluable advice on what to do.”

“That sounds good.” Marinette fingered the small silver ring. “What happens if I put this on?”

“Don’t do it!” Tikki yelled, suddenly looking very worried. “It’s incredibly dangerous to wear the Ladybug and Cat Miraculouses at the same time. Terrible things could happen!”

Marinette looked down at Tikki. “What sorts of terrible things?”

Tikki sighed. “Why do you think Hawkmoth wants these two Miraculouses so badly?”

Marinette thought for a minute. “You mean, he wants to trigger these terrible things?”

“Exactly. Now come on, Marinette, we can’t waste any time!”

“Should I transform?”

“No, you don’t want to draw any attention just yet. We’ll have to take the Métro.”

Marinette ran down the stairs with Tikki in her bag, gave each of her parents a goodbye kiss, and rushed out the front door.

 

“Hey Nino, do you know where Marinette is today?” Lila asked.

Nino shook his head. “Adrien’s not here either.”

“They do this a lot, don’t they,” Lila sighed.

“All the time,” Nino replied knowingly. “You’re still new; you’ll get used to it.”

“And you’re sure they aren’t in a relationship with each other?”

“Dude, have you ever seen them together? Marinette can barely get out a single word. No, they’re not in a relationship.”

Lila nodded. “Okay, that’s what I needed to know.”

“What do you mean, what you needed to know?”

“Never mind,” Lila said with a flick of her hand. “Anyway, it’s time to go to class.”

Lila and Nino walked up the stairs and along the balcony to the classroom.

“Huh, it looks different today,” Lila commented. “Why is that?”

“What do you mean?”

“The lighting inside. It’s more orange. And is it getting brighter?”

“Hey, you’re right. I wonder why that is.”

Lila realized what was going on mere seconds in advance. “Nino, get down!” she yelled, tackling Nino and knocking him flat on the balcony.

The classroom exploded. The door was blown off its hinges and went flying across the courtyard, as a cloud of smoke, fire, and debris billowed out of the doorway.

 

The train was very crowded; Marinette barely even had any room to stand. She noticed that the conversation in the crowd around her sounded much more lively than usual.

“But do you know where he came from?” one person was asking.

“I was there on the Champs-Élysées,” another was explaining excitedly. “And I saw him fly right into the explosion…he didn’t hesitate at all. And then he flew out seconds later, carrying four children—two in each arm! Not a scratch on any of them!

“He saved my son,” a man at the other end of the traincar was explaining through tears. “I owe everything to him.”

“Wow,” Tikki piped up from Marinette’s bag. “This person’s certainly gotten a lot done in a very short time.”

“But is it genuine?” Marinette wondered. “Remember, we’ve dealt with illusions before.”

“You’re about to miss your stop,” Tikki pointed out.

Marinette gasped and jumped out the doors just before they closed. And a few transfers later, she walked up the stairs into a quiet and unwelcoming neighborhood.

“Do you remember which building is his?” Tikki asked as they looked down a long, straight street that seemed uncannily empty. The end of the street seemed to be concealed by mist, so Marinette had no idea how far it stretched; perhaps it just went on forever. This neighborhood always creeped her out.

“The second one on the right,” Marinette guessed.

Tikki nodded. “You really are quite the lucky one.”

And Marinette walked towards the small painted wooden door.

Her phone rang from her bag. Marinette picked up the phone and saw that the call was from her mother.

“Hello?” Marinette said worriedly. Her mother almost never called during school hours.

“Marinette, thank goodness!” her mother responded frantically. “Are you all right?”

“Um…yes, I’m fine. Why do you ask?”

“Oh, I’m so relieved. I heard about the explosion, and I feared for the worst.”

“Explosion?” Marinette asked, her eyes wide.

“You mean you don’t know about it?” Marinette’s mother asked incredulously. “You are at school, right?”

“Oh, um…of course I’m at school!” Marinette stammered. “I was just getting out of the bathroom.” She paused a moment. “I think, um…it sounds like they’re calling out names. I have to get off the phone. Don’t worry, I’m perfectly safe. I’ll come home if they let us out early.” Before her mother could say anything else, Marinette hung up the phone. “Tikki, the Great Guardian will have to wait…I’ve got to step in.”

“Marinette, wait!” Tikki interjected. “What if it’s a trap?”

Marinette clenched her fists. “My friends are in danger. I don’t care if it’s a trap or not, I owe it to them to do whatever I can. Tikki, spots on!”

As Tikki flew in and entered her earrings, Marinette found herself surrounded by a burst of glowing light. A tingling sensation spread from her ears across her face and down all her limbs, and she found herself being wrapped in a spotted red outfit. A round yoyo appeared at her hip.

And Ladybug swung away over the streets of Paris.

 

Nino coughed, looking up toward the destroyed classroom. The explosion had certainly been dramatic. It hadn’t just blown out the door; it had also knocked down a large section of the room’s front wall. Nino tried to think about who had been inside there.

Out of the smoke flew a caped figure, carrying two people. He set them down right next to where Lila and Nino were lying.

“You’ll be all right,” the figure said reassuringly. “How many others were in there?”

“There were five of us,” the smaller of the two people said. “Us, Max, Rose, and Juleka.”

“I’ll be right back out,” the caped figure said, turning to fly back into the room.

“Wait!” the smaller person called out. “Who are you?”

The figure turned and looked over his shoulder. “I’m the Paragon.” And saying nothing else, he leaped into the air and flew into the expanding cloud of smoke.

Lila picked up her head and groaned. “Ouch, I missed that. What happened?”

Nino was sitting up and looking at the door, awestruck. “He saved Mylène and Ivan. And he’s going back in to save everyone else.”

Lila shook her head. “I don’t think I’m going to wait around for that.” Turning, she stumbled down the stairs, rubbing her head.

“Where are you going?” Nino called.

“To find a weapon!” Lila yelled. As she reached the ground, she turned and ran.

 

As Ladybug ran along the rooftops of Paris, she felt more and more worried. So much was happening, and there were so many more potential disasters on the horizon. And if she wanted to stop this, she’d need to know more.

She swung on her yoyo over one large street, and noticed an unusual pattern of graffiti on a low wall. It resembled two crescent moons, one red and one purple, with their rounded outside edges facing each other. The four crescent tips pointed outward in four different directions.

The notable thing about this pattern was that she’d seen it before…at least twice, on streets that she’d just passed over minutes before. This was just getting weirder and weirder.

And then Ladybug’s eye was drawn in the other direction. The burning wreckage of a city bus was lying on the side of the street, with two ambulances parked nearby.

Ladybug stopped for a moment, surveying the wreckage. As a hero, wasn’t it her duty to help? But her school—her friends—needed help too. Sighing regretfully, Ladybug continued in her journey across the city to her school.

There were the red and purple crescents again, sprayed several times across the buildings of the next street. Many of the symbols were very large. These walls now also featured poorly sprayed illustrations, each depicting an exploding building or crashing vehicle.

And as Ladybug approached her school, she noticed a burning pileup of two buses and several cars, just at the bottom of the school’s walls. Many people were standing around the wreckage, some looking up at her.

She couldn’t not step in. Releasing her yoyo, she landed next to the wreckage. “Is anybody still in there?” she shouted, hoping somebody would answer.

One girl with golden pigtails shook her head. “He rescued me. And everybody else.”

“Who did?” Ladybug asked, turning to the girl. “Who was he?”

The girl said nothing, and pointed at the wall of the school.

Ladybug looked up, her eyes following the girl’s finger to the enormous words that had been messily painted in blue on the school’s wall. Each letter was taller than a person—it must have taken several people to manage to paint the whole thing.

_THE PARAGON SAVES._

 

“Now that everybody’s safe, it’s time for me to go,” the Paragon said quietly to Nino.

Nino nodded. “Thank you, Paragon.”

“Liar!” a voice yelled from the courtyard.

Both Nino and the Paragon turned their heads, looking surprised.

Lila stood in the courtyard with a wild grin on her face. Her arms were outstretched, and she held an épée in each hand, which Nino assumed she must have gotten from the fencing storage room.

“Sorry, Paragon,” Lila shouted, “but an expert liar like myself can see right through your trickery.”

The Paragon laughed. “It’s your word against mine, Lila Rossi. And I think people will trust the hero that saved them over a self-proclaimed master of illusions.”

Nino’s reaction was less jovial. “How dare you!” he exclaimed. “We have this man to thank for saving the lives of our friends. Don’t you dare disrespect him!”

Lila snorted with laughter. “He’s playing you like a fiddle, Nino. All this is textbook, and yet he’s still somehow got you under his thumb.” She waved one of her swords. “But enough chatter. Come down and fight me, Paragon, or I’ll tell your father where you’ve actually been all those late evenings when he worried about you.” She casually tossed an épée forward.

In a blur of motion, the Paragon appeared in front of Lila and caught the sword. He leaned forward and stared into Lila’s eyes. “How do you know who my father is?” he asked in a very quiet voice, almost a whisper.

Lila saw a glint of fear in the Paragon’s eyes. These were the moments in life that she lived for. “The same way I know I consistently defeat you when we fence each other,” she coolly replied.

“Why are you doing this?” the Paragon asked. “What do you accomplish by dueling me?”

“I’m just passing more idle time before my inevitable death,” Lila said with a shrug. “I don’t know, I just thought it would be fun. Now stop talking and defend your honor.” Not giving the Paragon any time to react, Lila attacked, thrusting her épée toward the Paragon’s chest.

The Paragon parried incredibly quickly, wrapping his blade around Lila’s and pushing outward. Surprised by the speed and force of the riposte, Lila leaned backwards, and the tip of her opponent’s blade passed by her with only a finger’s width to spare. But her lean left her open, and the Paragon took advantage of that, attacking with a whipping motion that seemed to cause his blade to bend in the air.

Lila managed an impromptu parry, only to find that her opponent’s blade bent around her own, and the tip caught her on the shoulder, drawing blood.

“Touché,” Lila acknowledged, surprised the Paragon had managed the flick successfully. He was much stronger, much faster, and much more dextrous than she had anticipated.

The Paragon grinned. “If we’re dueling to first blood, I already have victory.”

Lila attacked again, with a well-positioned and well-aimed thrust. Unfortunately for her, the Paragon’s counterattack was quicker. The tip of Lila’s sword hit her opponent’s bell guard, while the tip of the Paragon’s sword poked her in the chest. Lila yelped in pain and jumped back.

Her landing was awkward, as she failed to keep her back foot underneath herself. The Paragon took advantage of her instability and pressed forward, driving Lila backwards toward the nearest wall. Lila managed to parry his attacks, but failed in each attempt at a riposte, and was still unable to find stable footing.

“Are we done here?” the Paragon asked as Lila felt the wall immediately behind her.

Assessing her opponent as quickly as she could, Lila noticed that his back shoulder was swinging in. That would probably be his most vulnerable spot. As the Paragon came in for the attack, Lila parried by wrapping her blade around her opponent’s, and with a push managed to touch her opponent’s shoulder.

The blade didn’t penetrate, and drew no blood. Lila stared wide-eyed. It had no rubber tip at the end; that should have wounded him.

The Paragon looked at his shoulder, and back at Lila. “Touché,” he said, and Lila could feel the anger carried by his voice.

Lila set down her sword. “I think we’re done.”

“And why is that?” the Paragon inquired, his eyes narrowed.

Lila pointed to the roof of the school with a smile. “Because I don’t want to take time away from your new challenger.”

There stood Ladybug, yoyo in hand.

Without giving another moment’s attention to Lila, the Paragon dropped his sword and leaped into the air, landing next to Ladybug on the rooftop.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that was dramatic. By now, you probably have a pretty good idea of what this story as a whole is actually about.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After her first time meeting the Paragon face to face, Ladybug consults Master Fu for assistance.

The Paragon spoke first. “Well hello, beetle girl,” he said with a smile. “I wondered when you’d be showing up.”

Ladybug stared into the Paragon’s green eyes. They certainly looked familiar, but were decidedly not the catlike eyes of Chat Noir. “I wondered the same about you,” Ladybug replied, not knowing what else to say.

“So, what do you need?” the Paragon asked. “If you’re showing up, I can only assume there’s trouble. I can help out in any way.”

“I think you already know what the trouble is,” Ladybug coldly replied.

“Oh, of course, the explosions. Don’t worry, I’ve got it all under control.”

Ladybug gestured towards the burning wreckage on the street. “It doesn’t look like you’ve got it under control. Why is this happening?”

“I don’t know,” the Paragon responded. “All I know is that as a hero, it’s my duty to track down the source of these attacks, and to save whatever lives I can along the way. I’m sure you understand.”

“As a hero, you say,” Ladybug quoted. “Where exactly do you come from, hero?”

“I’ve always been here. I’ve been lying low for a long time, waiting for when the city needed me. When these attacks began, I decided I needed to intervene.”

“If you’ve been here for so long, why haven’t you helped out Chat Noir and myself in the search for Hawkmoth?” Ladybug asked. “Is he not the greatest threat the city has faced?”

The Paragon laughed. “If you think Hawkmoth is a great threat, you’ve got a lot to learn.”

“Oh I do, do I?” Ladybug exclaimed, affronted. “Look, I don’t know where you’ve been in the past year, but I’ve saved this city—even the world—from destruction more times than you can imagine.”

The Paragon leaned forward. “Tell me, Ladybug,” he said in a very quiet voice. “Have you ever faced an enemy who can make your heart stop just by wanting it? Have you ever tried to stop an ancient energy source from consuming the planet from the inside? Have you ever fought the overlord of a digital world, who can move people to and from that world at his own whims?”

“That last one, yes,” Ladybug replied.

“Oh, I actually wasn’t serious about that one. It sounds dangerous, but there’s really nothing to fear from that.”

Ladybug sighed. “And I guess you’re implying you have faced all these threats. So what powers do you have?”

“I can fly, I’m incredibly fast, and I’m very strong and durable.”

“And do you have a Miraculous, Paragon?”

At this, the Paragon drew back, surprised. “How do you know my name?”

Ladybug pointed at the wall below them, covered in gigantic blue lettering. “A few of your fans wrote it down for me.”

The Paragon laughed. “Oh, yes, of course.”

“Why did they do that?” Ladybug asked. “They’ve been leaving little messages all over the city. It’ll be quite annoying for the street cleaning crew.”

“Hey, I can’t help it if they like me,” the Paragon said with a shrug.

“They like me, too,” Ladybug pointed out. “I’ve been present here for far longer than you have, and I’ve saved far more people than you have. Everybody knows my name.”

“It’s not a competition, Ladybug!” the Paragon laughed.

“I’m not saying this to brag,” Ladybug continued. “I’m pointing out that despite my high profile and incredible record, I don’t have legions of passionate followers painting my name and symbol on every street corner. So why do you?”

“I don’t know. Do you really expect me to keep track of every single thing my fans do?”

Ladybug sighed. “You’re not being very helpful here. Why were you fighting that girl down there?”

“I really don’t know,” the Paragon said with a laugh. “She insisted. I merely obliged her request for a duel.”

“Why in the world would she ask that?” Ladybug wondered, surprised.

“I can’t fathom that. She said something about passing idle time before her inevitable death.”

“Way to lighten the mood there,” Ladybug muttered. “Come on, let’s go talk to her.”

Lila grinned as Ladybug and the Paragon landed in front of her. “So glad you two finally got to meet each other. Paragon, this is Ladybug; Ladybug, this guy is definitely Chat Noir, who’s been akumatized.”

Ladybug gave Lila a quick nod of appreciation, hoping she wasn’t lying this time. She turned to the Paragon. “What do you have to say to that?”

“Look,” the Paragon began. “I’ve been rescuing people all morning. I’ve saved hundreds of very real lives. Thanks to me, nobody’s died in these attacks. And thanks to me, nobody will die. If you’re not going to work with me on this, at least let me do my job, or all lives lost will be on your hands.”

Ladybug turned to Lila. “Is he the one behind the attacks in the first place?”

“Probably,” Lila said with a shrug. “I can’t be certain of that.”

“I’m surprised you’re valuing the word of a liar over that of a fellow hero,” the Paragon pointed out. “But now if you’ll excuse me, I have a job to do.” The Paragon raised one hand into the air and took off, flying high into the sky, his cape trailing behind him.

“Thanks for the help, Lila,” Ladybug said, extending her hand.

Lila drew back. “I’m only giving you help because you can’t properly do your job without it.”

“Look,” Ladybug sighed, “if you’re still hung up about the last time—”

“Oh, that’s ancient history,” Lila interrupted. “I’m just a little annoyed because he _stabbed_ me. Twice. While you were taking your sweet time to show up here.”

Ladybug hung her head. “I’m sorry, but you have to understand that there are disasters happening everywhere. I have a lot to do.”

“Do you know how hard it was for me to stall him long enough for you to get here? He stabbed me! Twice!”

“Yes, and you’re bleeding. I think you should probably go find the nurse’s office.”

“And then what did you do? You let him get away. I think I’m justifiably irritated.”

“I guess there’s no pleasing you,” Ladybug grumbled. “Don’t worry, I’ll be getting to the bottom of this. If he’s evil, I’ll be stopping him. You can count on me.”

“Right, because you’re so reliable,” Lila drawled.

“All right, I’ve had just about enough of this conversation.” Ladybug turned and flung her yoyo, jumping into the air and swinging away.

Leaping from building to building, Ladybug noticed many more disaster sites—crashed cars and buses, exploded buildings—all painted with the red and purple symbol of the Paragon, which she was now seeing on every street. Admiration for him was certainly spreading quickly.

Landing at the start of the long, unnerving street, Ladybug detransformed, and Marinette walked towards Master Fu’s door, with the Cat Miraculous in her hand.

She didn’t notice the figure who had followed her all the way from the school, and who was now dismounting a motorcycle behind her.

 

Master Fu swung open the door and walked out into the street, turning to lock the door behind him. He stopped when he noticed Marinette. “Ah, Marinette!” he called out. “I wondered when I’d be seeing you. Please do come in!” He opened the door again and entered, taking a seat in the middle of a room. Marinette followed, and closed the door behind her.

“So you were expecting me, then?” Marinette asked.

Master Fu nodded. “Of course, although not right this moment. I was just heading out to get groceries.”

“I guess you know why I’m here.”

“You want to ask for help in defeating the Paragon.”

Marinette nodded.

“When I gave you your Miraculous, it was because I was confident in your abilities to deal with whatever threats Paris faced,” Master Fu said sternly. “Why do you feel the need to ask for help?”

“I always had help,” Marinette replied. “You didn’t just give me a Miraculous, you also gave me a partner. Chat Noir and I are a team; we rely on each other. I believe that he’s been akumatized, and has become the Paragon.”

“The greatest threat you can ever face is the one you have to face alone,” Master Fu said solemnly.

“That’s why I’m coming to you. Because the more people I have by my side, the easier it will be to deal with this threat.”

“Might I ask how you deduced that Chat Noir and the Paragon are the same person?”

“Tikki told me that she felt the disappearance of Chat Noir’s kwami, which meant that he had taken off his Miraculous. She said that would leave him vulnerable to akumatization.”

“Where is Tikki, by the way?” Master Fu asked.

Tikki flew out of Marinette’s purse. “Here I am, Master,” she said with a small bow.

“It’s lovely to see you again, my good friend,” Master Fu said to Tikki before looking back at Marinette. “So let me ask you, what brought this about? What could drive a pure-hearted person like Chat Noir to join forces with Hawkmoth? Once you know this, you can figure out what the Paragon wants, and thereby you will know how to defeat him.”

“I don’t know,” Marinette acknowledged. “The last time I saw him, he seemed frustrated, I think. But I didn’t imagine he was upset enough to take his Miraculous off!”

“And why was he upset?”

“Because of the mayor. I was offered a medal of honor, while he wasn’t.”

“Just because of that one event?” Master Fu prompted. “Or is there more?”

“I don’t know. It’s the first time I’ve seen him act like that.”

“His actions are only what he wants you to think he feels, and they form a mask that conceals his true emotions,” Master Fu said. “Now tell me, what is the most remarkable thing about the Paragon?”

“Well, there are a lot of things,” Marinette pondered. “He’s very strong, very fast, and very durable, and he can fly—”

“Come on, Marinette!” Tikki interrupted. “That applies to plenty of akumatized people. None of those make him stand out.”

Marinette tried again. “He doesn’t appear at first to be doing anything evil?”

“Still not original,” Tikki responded. “We’ve seen that before, too.”

“He showed up at my school, specifically?”

“Of course he’d show up at your school, since he’s—” Tikki’s eyes widened and she covered her mouth. “Never mind. But that’s still not it.”

Marinette groaned. “Why are you two talking to me in riddles?”

“Because true understanding comes from within,” Master Fu replied. “Those who are presented with bowls of soup do not thereby know how to cook for themselves.”

“I think I’ve got it,” Marinette tried. “It’s that he always manages to show up at the site of the disasters, in time to save everybody, as if he knows about them before they happen.”

“That’s certainly interesting,” Tikki acknowledged. “You’re on the right track.”

“Well, what I really can’t figure out is why people trust him. In a matter of hours, he’s amassed a reputation even greater than mine as Ladybug, and I can’t figure out why they aren’t asking the same questions I’m asking.”

“Bingo!” Tikki cheered. “You’ve got it! Now, what did Chat Noir want, when you last saw him?”

“He wanted…oh my gosh,” Marinette breathed. “It all fits. That’s the Paragon’s power. The people who see his acts of heroism become his followers.”

“So now do you have a true understanding?” Master Fu asked.

Marinette nodded. “I think I know how I need to approach him. But I have to avoid the disaster sites, don’t I? Because if I see him saving anybody, I’ll fall under his spell.”

“Now that you understand, I believe you’ve brought something here for me?” Master Fu asked.

“Oh, yes!” Marinette remembered. She held out the silver ring.

Master Fu took the ring and held it in front of his face, examining it closely. “Good work, Marinette,” he acknowledged.

“That was me, actually,” Tikki interjected.

Master Fu nodded in approval. “Then good work, Tikki. I believe a friend of yours is inside here.”

“Can you get him out of there?” Tikki asked.

“Of course,” Master Fu said with a smile. He stood up and walked over to a shelf where an old record player sat. Pushing a few buttons, the top of the record player swung upwards, and an octagonal box emerged from inside. Master Fu took the box and set it in the middle of the floor.

Marinette examined the box. It had seven small compartments in it—two in the center, clearly symbolizing yin and yang, and five surrounding the center two. Each compartment was decorated with a small circular symbol. Yin had the familiar symbol of the ladybug, and yang had the paw print of Chat Noir.

Two other small objects were in the box—one was a necklace that resembled the tail of a fox, and the other was a hair pin that had the stripes of a bee.

“What are those?” Marinette asked, pointing at the two unfamiliar objects.

“Those are for another time,” Master Fu replied, placing the ring in its compartment. Leaving the lid of the box open, he reached his hands out and moved them around the box, with his eyes closed.

“How long is this going to take?” Marinette asked.

“Silence, please,” Master Fu snapped. “It will take longer depending on how many times I get distracted.”

Marinette nodded and sat quietly as Master Fu began his ritual.

 

The person waiting outside the door drew back and approached the window, carefully easing in a metal hook and drawing back one piece of the wooden blinds. Perfect. Now there was just barely enough to see into the room. There was the old man on the floor with the box, the girl watching him, and the opened record player on the other side of the room.

 

Banging a gong with a mallet, Master Fu stood up. “Come out, Plagg.”

A small black creature flew out of the ring and coughed, hovering above the box. “Wow, I’m tired,” the creature whined. “What happened?”

“Who are you?” Marinette asked.

The creature turned. “Hi, I’m Plagg. I can tell by your wide eyes that you’ve already succumbed to my charm and charisma. Oh hey, Tikki.”

Tikki flew forward and grabbed Plagg in a hug. “Hello, Plagg!” she exclaimed happily. “It’s so good to see you.”

After a few seconds, Plagg wriggled free of Tikki’s grasp. “Wow, I’m famished. Anybody got anything I can eat?”

Marinette felt around in her bag. “Tikki, do we have any of those cookies left?”

“Cookies? Eww!” Plagg responded. “I’m sorry, but my tastes are far too refined and elegant for such simple foods.”

“He only eats cheese,” Master Fu explained. “Preferably camembert. I’d suggest picking some up as soon as you get the chance. I hope you aren’t bothered by the smell.”

“Not at all!” Marinette replied. “I like the smell!”

Master Fu raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

“There’s this boy she has a crush on who always smells faintly of camembert for some reason,” Tikki explained. “The smell reminds her of him.”

Now Master Fu was raising both eyebrows. “And who is this boy?”

“Tikki, shush!” Marinette exclaimed. “We’re keeping that on the down low, remember? He’s nobody you’d know, Master Fu. He just goes to my school.”

Tikki flashed Master Fu a wink, but said nothing.

“Hey, guys, not to be rude or anything, but I have no idea what’s going on,” Plagg pointed out. “Why am I here?”

“Basically, Chat Noir’s been akumatized, and we’re going to need your help to get him back to his normal self,” Marinette explained.

Plagg groaned. “That Agreste kid is so weak.”

“What did you say?” Marinette asked.

“Er, I—” Plagg stuttered. “I haven’t rested all week.”

Marinette didn’t see Master Fu putting his palm to his face and slowly shaking his head.

“So anyway,” Plagg recovered, “what do you need me to do?”

“Well, I was hoping you could help figure that out,” Marinette explained. “You know Chat Noir better than any of us do…you know what he wants, what his weaknesses are, and what he’s likely to do.”

“Hmm. I really should have been paying better attention. I kept getting distracted.”

“Come on, Plagg!” Tikki insisted. “You’re around him every day. There’s gotta be something helpful that you know.”

“Well,” Plagg contemplated, “he generally wants people to accept him. He’s kind of a high profile person in his normal life, and he’s got a lot of admirers, but he doesn’t like that. He just wants people to see him as a person.”

“That seems to contradict what we know about his akumatized form,” Tikki pointed out.

“That doesn’t really sound like Chat Noir,” Marinette added.

“Look, I’m doing the best I can, okay?” Plagg snapped. “And what he wants…well, he’s in love with Ladybug, so he wants to get together with her.”

Marinette stared at Plagg with wide eyes. “Say that again.”

“Oh right, you’re Ladybug, I keep forgetting,” Plagg said. “And he didn’t want you to know. Whoops, my bad.”

“I thought he was just flirting. I didn’t know he actually…oh, this is awkward.”

Tikki laughed. “You mean you really couldn’t tell?”

“Well, I guess it does kind of make sense,” Marinette said with a nod. “Especially with what he said on Valentine’s Day. It’s not too surprising.”

“You can use this to your advantage, Marinette!” Tikki pointed out. “If Chat Noir is in love with you, then so is the Paragon. He won’t want to hurt you.”

Marinette nodded. “I guess that is a potential weakness we could exploit. So we just have to find him. And if we can’t find him, if we make enough of a spectacle I’m sure we can bring him to us.”

“That sounds like a plan!” Tikki affirmed happily.

“Well then, Tikki, it’s time for us to transform.”

“Before you do,” Master Fu suggested, “you’ll want to get some camembert for Plagg, since he’s going to be accompanying you.”

“Excuse me?” Plagg interjected. “What do you mean, accompanying her?”

“She has to return you and your Miraculous to Chat Noir,” Master Fu explained. “You’ll need to be there so that he can transform.”

Plagg groaned. “Are you sure there’s not another way to do this?”

“If you’ve got any better ideas, feel free to share them,” Marinette said sternly.

“Maybe we could just wait here? If he’s akumatized, he wants the Miraculouses to give to Hawkmoth, right? So he could come to us.”

“That’s absurd,” Marinette replied. “There’s no way he’d know this is where we are.”

“But I’m tired!” Plagg whined.

“Look,” Marinette sighed. “If you agree to come with us, I’ll get you as much camembert as you can eat.”

Plagg perked up. “As much as I can eat?”

Marinette nodded.

“And we’re talking high-quality camembert, right? As runny and as fragrant as you can find?”

Marinette turned to Master Fu. “What price range are we talking for feeding him?”

“He can easily eat fifty rounds in a single day; possibly more. Given his very particular tastes, I doubt you could afford even one.”

Marinette blinked, looking momentarily stunned. “Are you serious?”

“What, so now you’re going to back out on our deal?” Plagg complained.

“How does Chat Noir ever get you to do anything?” Marinette asked.

“Well, he’s bonded to my Miraculous, so I technically have to listen to what he says. But he does give me lots of cheese.”

Marinette sighed. “Fine. I think I have a plan to get the cheese. But when I need you to help, you’d better not let me down.”

“Well, now that we’ve got that sorted out, I’d suggest you don’t delay,” Master Fu decided. “Go find that villain, Ladybug.”

Marinette thanked Master Fu and left, with both Tikki and Plagg by her side, the latter carrying the silver ring.

Master Fu closed the box and placed it inside the record player, closing the top. He picked up his grocery bags and left, locking the door behind him and whistling a cheerful tune as he walked along the long, straight street.

And as he rounded a corner and was out of sight, a figure emerged from the shadows and carefully inserted a pin into the lock on the door.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the Paragon stages disaster after disaster, Ladybug is distracted raiding cheese shops for Plagg.

“You certainly took your time to get here,” Hawkmoth stated, turning to the opened door in the back of his ornate dome. The evening light shone in through the still-open rose window.

“I was busy,” the Paragon coolly replied, walking slowly through the doorway. “A boat in the Seine had an accident, and I had to intervene.”

Hawkmoth raised his eyebrows. “What sort of an accident?”

“Well, it’s hard to say. But it’s almost as if somebody planted an explosive underneath the rudder and blew out the hull. It was right in the middle of the city. Fortunately, I was there to save the day, and lots of people saw.”

Hawkmoth looked down at the Paragon from his imposing height. “When I ask you to meet with me, I expect you to obey me immediately, and to not distract yourself along the way.”

“My apologies, Hawkmoth,” the Paragon said, bowing his head.

“Now, about those explosives,” Hawkmoth mused, stroking his chin. “How did you come by those?”

“I made them myself,” the Paragon answered proudly. “I pay attention in chemistry class. I just had to rob a couple hardware stores and a gas station, and I found all the materials I needed.”

“Good. You’ve certainly used those to your advantage. But I don’t want you to lose sight of your target.”

“What target?”

Hawkmoth growled quietly. “You know full well what I mean, Paragon. I forgave you for letting the Cat Miraculous slip away from you once. But if you do not double down on your efforts to retrieve it, I will teach you what true pain and suffering feels like.”

“Of course, Hawkmoth. I will do my best to find the ring.”

“And you know the ring is only part of what I desire.”

“You want Ladybug’s earrings,” the Paragon acknowledged.

“I know you love her,” Hawkmoth said coldly, “and I don’t want that to hold you back. Her Miraculous is rightfully mine.”

The Paragon nodded. “I won’t disappoint you, Hawkmoth.”

“Good.” Hawkmoth turned to look out the rose window at the setting sun. “Now let me explain why I summoned you here.”

“It wasn’t to tell me what you just said?”

“Don’t be such a fool, Paragon. I could have easily said all that to you through far more simple lines of communication.” Hawkmoth walked briskly over to a small wooden desk, positioned at the edge of the dome, and pulled out a notebook. “Come over here, Paragon, and let me show you what you need to do.”

 

Ladybug swung down to the sidewalk and burst through the door of the shop. “I need your help!” she yelled to the shocked man behind the counter.

“Ladybug!” the man exclaimed. “What brings you here?”

Ladybug scanned the interior of the cheese shop. “I need as much camembert as you can give me. It’s urgent; the city’s in danger.”

The shop owner blinked twice. “What could you possibly need with camembert?”

“It’s too complicated to explain, and I really don’t have time,” Ladybug responded. “Please just work with me on this.”

The man nodded. “It’ll be on the right side of the far wall. And I think I have a full box of it in the back.” He ran to check as Ladybug rushed over to the wall and began scooping into her arms as much camembert as she could carry.

The shop owner came out of the back room with a large box in his arms. “I think half of it’s camembert and half is gruyère,” he explained.

Ladybug adjusted the many cheeses in her arms and found a way to hold the box as well. “Thank you,” she said. “You’ve done your city a great service today.”

“And I’d like the gruyère back if you aren’t going to use it, please!” the shop owner shouted as Ladybug rushed out the door.

Ladybug set the cheeses down in a nearby alley. She leaned against a wall, out of breath. “Plagg, where did you go?” she asked.

With a rattling noise, Plagg poked his head out of a metal garbage can. “Oh hey, Ladybug. I was just looking around in here and I saw something shiny. Mind if I fish it out?”

“There isn’t time for that, Plagg!” Ladybug exclaimed. “Here’s your cheese. Eat it as fast as you can, please; don’t savor it like you did with that other shop.”

“Oh, that was so good,” Plagg moaned as he recalled the memory. “All right, let’s see what we’ve got.” He opened the box and rummaged through it. “What’s this? It isn’t camembert at all.”

“It’s gruyère,” Ladybug said through gritted teeth. “There’s camembert in there too.”

Plagg poked his head out. “Yeah, but it’s all the same kind. I don’t like that kind; it’s too stiff.”

Ladybug groaned and smacked her hand to her face. “What about any of these others?” she exclaimed, gesturing to the enormous pile of cheeses she had set next to the box.

Plagg flew to the pile and carefully looked over each cheese. “Hmm. Good, good, not fragrant enough, not soft enough, good, too sour, too sweet, good, good…”

Ladybug sat down and crossed her arms. “Please be quick, okay, Plagg? This is taking forever.”

“Ooh, this one’s my favorite!” Plagg responded, ripping the wrapper off of one cheese and eating it in one bite.

Ladybug plugged her nose as the smell wafted over towards her. “So will this be enough for you, Plagg? Master Fu said you could eat fifty rounds, and this is the fourth shop. I’d think this would easily make fifty.”

“He said I could eat at least fifty. I thought I’d test my limits today,” Plagg replied, opening the next cheese.

Ladybug groaned, and kept her fingers on her nose as she looked at the quickly setting sun. They’d spent the entire afternoon with cheese instead of tracking down and defeating the Paragon. But if Plagg was necessary to the plan, she had no other choice.

 

The soccer game was in its final quarter. Trying not to think too hard about her team’s two point lag in the score, Alix Kubdel received a pass and took the ball up the side of the field. As two opponents approached her, Alix passed the ball to the left, and it was received by her teammate, Kim.

Kim had a few seconds before the other team would, but he didn’t have a clear shot at the goal. Alix saw this and ran into position. If the other team fell for their bluff—which was looking like a likely outcome—Kim could pass to Alix and she could score. Alix motioned quickly to Kim as he received the ball, hoping he’d understand.

Kim promptly kicked the ball as hard as he could toward the goal. It soared above the heads of the approaching opponents, directly toward the center of the goal.

The goalie caught the ball and threw it toward one of her own team members, with a smug look on her face.

Kim groaned and hung his head as the ball was kicked past him toward his own goal.

“What are you doing?” Alix yelled out angrily. “You should have passed to me. I had a clear shot; you didn’t!”

“Stay focused on the game, Alix!” Kim snapped back as both ran toward the other end of the field.

“What’s the point? We can’t win this either way if you keep trying to show off!” Alix shouted. “You’re on a team! Act like it!”

“Can we have just one game where you don’t yell at me about this?” Kim exclaimed angrily.

“No, because every time you try to show off, we lose. Look at our record this season! It’s awful!”

A defender kicked the ball forward, to the cheers of the crowd, and Alix received it and took it up the side of the field. Soon, the other team’s defenders ran to meet her, and once again it didn’t look like she could get through them on her own.

“Don’t let me down, Kim,” she muttered as she passed the ball between the legs of a surprised defender.

Kim received the ball and assessed the situation as the defenders ran toward him. It looked pretty much the same as before…he still didn’t have a good shot at the goal.

With a sigh, he reluctantly passed the ball to Alix, who grinned and took the open shot at the goal.

A falling helicopter crashed into the goal and exploded.

Alix was thrown backwards and landed flat on her back some distance behind where she had been standing. Dazed by the explosion, she stood up and looked around. There was Kim, who had also been knocked flat, and didn’t look good. The defenders were sprawled off to the side, their clothes smoking but intact. The twisted wreckage of the helicopter was right on top of where the goal had been.

A caped figure flew down from the sky like a meteor, and grabbed the wrecked helicopter by its rotors, slowly lifting it into the air and eventually setting it down at the side of the field. The figure flew down and lifted up the goalie, carrying her directly to the stadium’s first aid room.

The figure was out moments later, and flew directly to Alix. “Are you all right?” he asked.

Alix nodded. “I’m fine. You’re the Paragon, aren’t you?”

The Paragon nodded in return. “Yes. Are you sure you’re okay? An ambulance is on its way.”

“Yes, I’m just spectacular,” Alix insisted. “But check on Kim and the defenders.”

“Of course.” Flashing Alix a brief smile, the Paragon turned and glided over toward where the other players lay.

Alix was breathing heavily. He was certainly remarkable. Even the news stories chronicling his feats didn’t do him justice. He had the air of a true hero, even more so than Ladybug or Chat Noir. Based on what she’d heard on the news, she hadn’t trusted him—how foolish she’d been! Now that she’d seen him in person—in action—she knew the truth. Even if she had only spoken to him for seconds, Alix was certain that this was a person she could count on to always do the right thing. And she had faith that he could do anything he set his mind to.

And she hoped Kim felt the same way.

 

Ladybug slammed the wooden shop door open. “This is an emergency!” she announced. “I need as many rounds of camembert as you can possibly give me!”

The shopkeeper folded her arms and lowered her eyebrows. “I got a call an hour ago from the owner of one of the other shops you visited,” she announced. “What’s this about, Ladybug?”

Ladybug blinked, unsure of what to say. “Um, well…Paris is being terrorized by a giant mouse!” she improvised. It was certainly easier than explaining the full situation she was in. “We need as much cheese as possible to lure it into the trap we set for it.”

“Right,” the shopkeeper drawled, leaning back in her chair and typing something into her phone. “Yeah, I definitely saw that on the news.”

“It’s not on the news,” Ladybug tried. “We’re trying to keep it under wraps, so as not to cause panic. It’s in the catacombs.”

“Yeah, this definitely sounds like a real story that you aren’t making up on the spot,” the shopkeeper said, not looking up from her phone.

“Look, I need you to believe me,” Ladybug said. “The city is in danger, and this is urgent. If I don’t acquire as much camembert as possible, that could be a disaster for Paris.”

The shopkeeper set the phone down and leaned forward, folding her hands together and putting them in front of her on the desk. “And pray tell me, why does this giant mouse want camembert, specifically?”

Ladybug was starting to feel more impressed by Lila’s deceptive skills; this was proving quite difficult. “Because of the smell!” she decided. “We don’t know exactly where it is. So we need to set up the trap so that the smell carries as far as possible. Camembert is the ideal choice.”

The shopkeeper resignedly sighed. “Fine. Take whatever you want. Just please try to reimburse me or something, I guess?”

“Thank you,” Ladybug said before gathering an armful of cheeses and departing.

Again, she found Plagg in an alley near the shop. “Is this going to be enough?” she asked.

Plagg read over the labels and sniffed the packaging. “I think so. I’m feeling pretty full.”

“Oh, thank goodness,” Ladybug breathed, relieved. “Now please be quick—see, the sun’s already down!”

Plagg began tearing off wrappers and eating the cheeses. “This shop has a good selection,” he said through a full mouth.

“Yeah, and it’s really hard to get to through the shopkeeper,” Ladybug retorted. “Do you know how many lies I had to make up? I hate lying!”

“Hey, you made the deal,” Plagg pointed out. “You said all I could eat. All I’m doing is holding you to it.”

Ladybug suddenly focused on Plagg, noticing that something was missing. “Plagg, where’s your ring?”

Plagg checked his arms and legs, and yelped in alarm. “I must have dropped it somewhere!” he exclaimed. “Oh no, this is bad.”

“Okay, Ladybug, keep calm,” Ladybug muttered to herself. “At least this can’t get any worse than it already is.” She thought back to the recent hours. “You definitely had it at the first few shops,” she told Plagg. “What about the last one?”

“I don’t think I had it on the way over here,” he asserted as he scarfed down another cheese. “I’m pretty sure I must have left it at one of the shops.”

“Well, which one?” Something stirred in Ladybug’s memory. “Plagg, remember when you were in that trash can, and you said you saw something shiny?”

“Yeah,” Plagg recalled. “I still want to know what that was.”

Ladybug slapped her hand to her face. “I think I know.”

Realization flashed across Plagg’s face as he gulped down another cheese. “Oh. I guess I dropped it. My bad.”

Ladybug looked at the sea of cheese wrappers and containers around Plagg. “Are you full yet?”

Plagg swallowed. “Yeah, I guess. How many rounds was that?”

Ladybug did a quick calculation in her head. “Between seventy and eighty.”

“That’s a new record!” Plagg announced proudly.

“Whee,” Ladybug muttered. “Now come on, Plagg, let’s go find that ring.”

 

“Isn’t this great?” Nathaniel asked, looking up at the stage in awe.

Alya looked up from her phone at the stage. Jagged Stone was beginning to segue into the song’s final guitar riff, as the lights flashed, the percussion rose, and the crowd roared.

“Look, Nathaniel,” Alya replied, “I like Jagged Stone as much as the next person, but there’s way more interesting stuff going on right now. A helicopter just crashed into the soccer game.”

“Wait, what?” Nathaniel said, alarmed. “Why didn’t you tell me? Is everyone okay?”

“Chill. The Paragon showed up. Everyone’s fine—well, except for the other team’s goalie. She’s hurt, but she’ll be okay. I’m texting Alix right now, and it seems the Paragon’s certainly got a fan in her.”

“Is there anything we can do?”

“Nah, it’s all been resolved. Say, what do you think of the Paragon?”

“Well, he seems powerful, I guess,” Nathaniel tried. “He’s done a lot of good things. What do you think?”

“I don’t trust him,” Alya replied. “Nino says he’s here because all these terrible things are happening, but I think all these terrible things are happening because he’s here.”

“Are you just saying that because you don’t like the idea of a hero who’s better than Ladybug?”

Alya glared at Nathaniel. “You take that back.”

“Sorry. I was joking,” Nathaniel explained hesitantly. “At least, I was trying to joke.” He looked back up at the stage. “Wow, the special effects here are amazing!”

Jagged Stone was playing the song’s final notes with his signature flair, leaping into the air and landing on his knees, flinging out his arm as he strummed the last chord. And as he landed, the wall behind him exploded in several bursts of fire, to the delighted cheers of the audience. An exuberant grin flashed across Jagged’s face as he was silhouetted against the cloud of flame behind him.

“Yeah, that’s very realistic,” Alya answered. “You know, I think Théo’s on the effects crew here. You could ask him about how they pull it off.”

As the fire continued to expand, and engulfed the performer, the whole room began to shake, and filled with smoke.

“Um, Alya…” Nathaniel began.

“This seems a little too realistic,” Alya realized, pulling out her phone and starting to record video. “I think there was an actual bomb in the wall.”

“You don’t look too surprised,” Nathaniel commented.

“Well, you get used to it after hanging around Ladybug for so long,” Alya replied. “So who do you think is going to save Jagged Stone? My money’s on the Paragon.”

“I’m thinking Ladybug,” Nathaniel replied.

Two figures emerged from the inferno, one being carried in the other’s arms. Both were silhouetted in front of the now fading conflagration. But even in silhouette, that cape was distinctive.

“You win, I guess,” Nathaniel acknowledged.

The Paragon carried the stunned performer over to the back of the concert hall, where two police officers were guiding attendees out the emergency exits.

Alya trained her camera on the interaction, but couldn’t discern what was being said.

Soon, however, the Paragon flew over and landed right in front of a surprised Alya and Nathaniel.

“Hey,” he began. “You’re Alya Césaire, right? Don’t you run the Ladyblog?”

Alya nodded, her eyes wide. “Wow, I’m amazed that you know me!”

“Of course I know you!” the Paragon said cheerfully. “Your blog is fantastic.”

Alya blushed. “Thank you,” she said in a small voice. What was wrong with her? She didn’t get this shy even around Ladybug.

“Well, would you like to interview me?” the Paragon asked.

“Um…you mean here? Now? Isn’t that a little dangerous?”

The Paragon laughed. “It’s perfectly safe. That fire isn’t going to spread. And besides, the fire department’s on their way.”

“Um…well, in that case, I’d love to interview you!” Alya said excitedly.

The Paragon straightened his hair under his hood. “Well, go on then. Ask away.”

Alya adjusted her phone to get a good angle. “Where are you from and why are you here now?”

“I’ve always been here,” the Paragon replied. “I’ve been the defender of Paris for centuries. I only intervene in the city’s affairs when there’s a real threat.”

“You don’t think Hawkmoth counts as a real threat?” Alya asked.

The Paragon shrugged. “Not really. It looks like those other two heroes are taking care of him. If they can handle it, then he probably isn’t that dangerous.”

“Even though he’s constantly attacking us?”

“And nothing bad’s ever come out of those attacks, right? Ladybug always fixes everything with her ridiculous magical yoyo.”

“So you’re all right with the city being victim to incessant attacks?”

“Well, if it bothers you so much, I can go take him down. Just for you,” the Paragon said with a wink.

A wide smile appeared on Alya’s face, and she blushed brightly. “Wow!” she exclaimed. Then she composed herself and continued the interview. “So what is this threat that’s greater than Hawkmoth that you came here to face?”

“Haven’t you noticed? There have been explosions everywhere, cars have been crashing, all that. Is that normal?”

“Well, kind of. I just assumed it was the latest akumatized villain.”

The Paragon paused for a moment, as if thinking, and then continued. “These disasters are a sign of a far greater threat. When the first explosion happened, I assumed Ladybug would show up to save the day. And then she failed. She let us all down. And that’s when I knew it was my duty to step in.”

“So what do you have to say to the people of Paris about this greater threat?”

“I’d just like them not to worry. The Paragon’s here, and he’ll protect you from whatever danger’s out there.”

“But you haven’t said what the danger is.”

The Paragon thought for a moment. “You don’t need to know what it is; that would cause undue panic. All you need to know is that you have nothing to fear from it as long as I’m around. And now, thank you for the interview, but I really must be going.”

“Thank you so much, Paragon,” Alya said. “I’m incredibly honored. I’ll upload the video as soon as I get the chance!”

The Paragon nodded, then turned and flew away.

 

“Got it!” Plagg yelled, and a rattling noise came out of the trash can as Ladybug leaned against the wall and watched.

“Is it really the ring this time?” Ladybug asked. “And not a coin or a candy wrapper like the last two tries?”

“No, it’s really the ring,” Plagg said. There was a clanging noise, as if Plagg had once again forgotten about the metal lid on top of the trash can. “Ow!” he yelled, then peeked out from under the edge of the lid.

“Well, come on, Plagg!” Ladybug exclaimed. “We don’t have time to waste!”

“What’s the rush?” Plagg groaned as he squeezed out from under the lid, the silver ring in hand.

Ladybug held up her yoyo. “Well, according to the news reports, the Paragon just blew up a concert hall. Jagged Stone was performing there. I like Jagged Stone. I’d rather not have him blown up.”

Plagg hovered next to Ladybug. “Well, since you gave me all that cheese, I guess we did have a deal.”

“So let’s hurry then.”

Ladybug leaped into the air, with Plagg at her side, and was briefly silhouetted against the full and rising moon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is definitely my favorite chapter in the whole story. And get ready for a major battle coming up in Chapter 8, as Ladybug fights the Paragon for the first time!


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ladybug battles the Paragon for the first time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I waited so long to update this; I had midterms. I'll try to get back on a more frequent update schedule now!

And Ladybug stood at the edge of the Eiffel Tower’s second level, her yoyo forming a perfect circle of glowing red light as she spun it around and around at her side. Plagg peeked out over the top of a metal beam, waiting to see what would happen.

And there was the Paragon, his blue cape flowing out behind him in the wind as he hovered just past the edge of the tower, with the now overcast night sky behind him, at the perfect altitude to look Ladybug in the eye. They were far enough apart that they couldn’t quite have touched fingertips if both extended their arms as far as they could.

“I heard you were looking for me,” the Paragon said, not moving from his position.

“We’ve got so much to talk about,” Ladybug replied, drumming her fingers on a beam. “I have so many questions for the valiant hero who’s been guardian of our city for centuries.”

“More questions?” the Paragon sighed. “I was hoping I was done with those.”

“I know,” Ladybug answered. “So I’ll just ask you one.” She caught her yoyo in her free hand. “Where’s your akuma, Chat Noir?”

The Paragon’s face stayed absolutely still. “Why did you call me that?” he asked.

“Oh, I don’t know,” Ladybug replied, turning her head to look around the area. “Maybe I was just hoping that I would jar your memory and make you realize that the akumas are what we’re supposed to be trying to stop.” She carefully reached her hand into a small pocket on her suit, and fingered the small silver ring inside.

“There’s a lot going on that you don’t understand,” the Paragon tried, his voice sounding worried.

“But there’s also plenty that I do understand. For instance, I understand that it’s my duty as the true protector of Paris—and as your friend—to take that demonic creature out of you.”

“And then I hope you understand that if you attack me, I will fight back,” the Paragon said sternly.

“Of course,” Ladybug said with a shrug. “I’m used to it.” And taking a flying leap off the tower, Ladybug tackled the Paragon, and both began to fall off the immense drop towards the city below.

As the two figures tumbled down and down, both pummeled each other with their fists, as Ladybug tried to find any noticeable object on the Paragon’s body. But she saw nothing, except that the ground was approaching quickly.

“Why are we falling? You can fly, can’t you?” Ladybug asked through gritted teeth as the Paragon reached for her earrings. She grabbed the Paragon’s wrist and forced it back.

“You’re underneath me,” the Paragon said in a remarkably calm voice as he pushed his hand closer and closer to Ladybug’s ear. “When we hit the ground, I’ll fare much better than you will.”

Ladybug realized that she didn’t have a free hand: one of her hands was holding onto the Paragon’s waist to prevent him from getting away, and the other was holding onto his wrist to prevent him from reaching her Miraculous. So she didn’t have a hand to hold her yoyo and swing out of there. And she could already see the tops of buildings around her.

Making a split-second decision, she released the Paragon and grabbed her yoyo, flinging it toward the tower. And reacting immediately, the Paragon firmly caught the yoyo in his own hand as it tried to fly by him.

As the Paragon flew just a short ways up into the air, Ladybug crashed into the street below, forming a crater in the pavement as she landed. The Paragon looked on curiously from above.

Wheezing, Ladybug pulled herself out of the crater. Her Miraculous prevented her from feeling pain, but she wasn’t looking forward to when she’d have to detransform. She just hoped that her enhanced durability during the landing would make it more bearable.

“You’re a tough one, Ladybug,” the Paragon acknowledged from the air. Ladybug noticed that he’d let go of the yoyo.

“You ought to have known that already, Chat Noir,” Ladybug replied, throwing her yoyo toward the top of the tower. Retracting the string, she jumped high into the air, and tackled the Paragon mid-leap. The two careened onto the tower and landed on the first level up. Ladybug clearly had the upper hand at this point; the Paragon had been disoriented by the sudden change in speed and direction, and Ladybug managed to pin him down. Pummeling his chest to keep him immobilized, Ladybug searched him again for the akuma. Why couldn’t she figure out where it was hiding?

And Ladybug suddenly found both of her wrists grabbed mid-punch. “I’ve had enough of this,” the Paragon growled. Standing up, he swung Ladybug around and around, and flung her high into the air. And as she reached the apex of her trajectory, the Paragon flew incredibly quickly in a straight line towards her, grabbing her from below and slamming her all the way through the level above her. Metal and concrete cascaded down as the Paragon pushed Ladybug through.

Ladybug landed next to the new hole they had made, and coughed. She really hoped that when she detransformed she wouldn’t find every bone in her body to be broken. Even the powers of her Miraculous had their limits. But now, although she knew she was hurt, she felt no pain, and was ready to continue the fight.

“Wow, I didn’t think you’d do that to me, Chat Noir,” Ladybug commented as she righted herself. “I guess Hawkmoth really has corrupted you.”

The Paragon shook his head as he walked toward his opponent. “Hawkmoth changed nothing. I’m exactly the same now as I was then. You just never bothered to look.”

“That’s not true,” Ladybug insisted, standing up and spinning her yoyo by her side. “The real Chat Noir is the one who will do what’s right even if it isn’t beneficial to him. Yes, he can be obnoxious, and he makes terrible puns, but he’s my partner. And right now, I’m not talking to him. I’m talking to an akuma. And I want him back.”

The Paragon lunged at Ladybug, and she leaped high above him. As she spun around in the air, she released her yoyo’s string, letting it fly up between the beams of the tower, all the way to the top. She then retracted the string as quickly as she could, and the yoyo carried her at high speed up the tower’s central spine.

Sure enough, the Paragon was right behind her. As he approached, Ladybug kicked with her feet, keeping the Paragon at bay below her. Only a few of her blows actually hit, but they were enough to make her enemy fall back.

Ladybug reached the top of the tower, and in one fluid move pushed off the underside of the top level with her feet, falling headfirst toward the level below her. The Paragon let out a small yelp as Ladybug passed him and he noticed the massive block just above him. But he adjusted his flight path quickly, and stopped just before impact, then flew back down towards the falling Ladybug, his cape trailing behind him.

Ladybug wrapped her yoyo around one beam and swung around it, alighting on another. Looking up, she beckoned to the Paragon. “Go ahead!” she yelled. “Come and get me!”

As the Paragon dove towards her, Ladybug flung her yoyo straight above herself and shouted: “Lucky Charm!”

And as bright lights flashed around her, she saw an object materializing. But before she could discern what it was, it was snatched by the Paragon as he soared by and alighted on a nearby beam.

“What am I supposed to do with this?” the Paragon jeered as he held the object in his hands. “Oops!” he said with a laugh as he dropped it, and it fell down and down to smash on the ground below. Ladybug still couldn’t figure out what it had been.

“That’s just not nice,” Ladybug complained quietly.

“You’ve met your match, Ladybug!” the Paragon shouted, arms outstretched as a wild grin spread across his face. “How easily you fall without me by your side!”

This isn’t good, Ladybug thought. Come on, think, Ladybug. What’s his weakness? How can I beat him without my Lucky Charm? Do I even have enough time before I detransform?

“Cataclysm!” the Paragon shouted, and dark energy flashed around his outstretched hand.

Nope. That’s it. Game over, Paragon wins.

“All right, Ladybug,” the Paragon announced, “there are two ways we can do this, and I think we both know what they are.”

There isn’t any way to win this, Ladybug realized. I’ve already lost. At this point, I just need to find a way to escape.

“I don’t want to hurt you any more than I already have, Ladybug,” the Paragon continued. “I do admire you. But you’re an obstacle in my path to greatness, so I have to stop you one way or another.”

“Ease up on the clichés, Chat Noir,” Ladybug responded, narrowing her eyes as she located exactly where to attach the yoyo. “You missed at least two opportunities for puns.” This was a lie, since Ladybug couldn’t think of any particular missed opportunities, but she felt confident that Chat Noir would have been able to make something out of that had he been trying. But if there were any last vestiges of Chat Noir’s personality lingering underneath the akuma, he’d try to figure out what those opportunities were, and that moment’s hesitation would be exactly what Ladybug needed.

And Ladybug leaped off the beam and descended. Metal and air passed by her at high speed, and the tower’s glowing lights blurred as she accelerated toward the inevitable ground.

The Paragon drew a deep breath and dove after her, gracefully pointing his arms in front of him. His cape flapped behind him as he fell, and one of his two small masks blew off his face in the wind.

That was when the beam of light hit him. He didn’t expect it, and flew straight into the beam of one of the massive lights shining up at the tower. He smacked his face as he emerged from the beam…he’d let that clever bug lead him right into it.

Where was she? He scanned the area, but Ladybug had vanished into the night.

 

Ladybug’s transformation vanished just above the trapdoor, and Marinette fell through onto her bed. She wheezed as pain hit her in her chest, back, neck, and limbs. She’d really taken a beating out there. Fortunately, it seemed that her Miraculous had been able to neutralize most of the damage, but she still wasn’t sure she’d be able to move for a while.

“Are you okay, Marinette?” Tikki asked in a small and quiet voice.

Marinette shook her head. “I’m definitely not okay, although I could be worse. I don’t think I can get up right now, so feel free to go down to the bakery and eat a few cookies to recharge. Just make sure nobody sees you.”

Tikki nodded. “Just lie there for now, Marinette. The Miraculous has healing powers whether I’m in it or not. It’ll fix you up.”

Marinette stared at the sky through the open trapdoor above her, realizing that the Paragon was still out there. She’d actually lost…she had failed to beat the villain or capture the akuma, and she had returned with her spirits crushed and her body broken. This was a first for her…she’d been forced to make temporary retreats in the past, but that was with the knowledge that she’d be able to go back out there and win. This time, she didn’t see any way towards victory. The Paragon wasn’t just more powerful than her…he also knew her far better than any villain should, anticipating her attacks and her Lucky Charm. How was she supposed to beat that?

Tikki popped up by Marinette’s head, eating the last few crumbs of a cookie. “I’m all recovered now, how about you?”

Marinette tried to move her leg and winced. “Nope, I still feel absolutely awful.”

“Just give it time,” Tikki said in a comforting voice. “Say, do you know where Plagg is?”

“He didn’t come back here?” Marinette asked, surprised. “He knew that was the plan if I failed to beat him. Oh god, I failed to beat him.”

“Don’t worry, Marinette,” Tikki reassured. “It’s not too bad.”

Marinette slowly raised one eyebrow.

“Okay, it’s pretty bad,” Tikki admitted. “But you’ve overcome worse things than this in the past. It’s just a matter of figuring out how to do it.”

“No, it’s not!” Marinette exclaimed, clenching her fists. “I’ve never overcome worse things. This is the worst it’s ever gotten. I don’t even have Chat Noir to back me up this time! I’m sorry, Tikki, but it’s hard to hold onto hope.”

Tikki drew a deep breath and smacked Marinette across the face.

“Ow!” Marinette yelled. “What was that for?”

“I want you to listen very carefully,” Tikki said sternly. “You don’t have a choice in this. Paris is in danger—possibly in more danger than it’s ever been in before. And now that Chat Noir’s gone, you’re the only one who can make this right. I can help you, Plagg can help you, and Master Fu can help you, but you’re the only one who can actually beat this villain.” Tikki looked Marinette in the eye. “Ladybug, Paris needs you to be miraculous.”

“But what do I do?” Marinette asked. “I just feel so helpless.”

“Everybody feels helpless sometimes! Chloé probably felt helpless when she was captured by Lady Wifi. Lila probably felt helpless when she realized she couldn’t best the Paragon in their duel. And then you came. When they were helpless, they both relied on you to save them. And you need to do the same.”

“But I don’t have anyone to rely on to save me.”

“You have yourself,” Tikki stated, “and that’s more than enough. If Ladybug can make things right for them, Ladybug can make things right for you too, and for Chat Noir, and for the rest of Paris. I’ve seen this for thousands of years…there’s nothing that Ladybug can’t do.”

At that moment, Plagg dropped in through the trapdoor. “Wow, what a fight. We’re absolutely doomed.”

“I knew it!” Marinette exclaimed. “I totally knew it!”

Tikki sighed in exasperation. “Could you maybe have picked literally any other time to express that sentiment? I’m trying to give a pep talk here.”

“Oh, sorry,” Plagg said sheepishly. “I retract my previous statement. You can do this, you can win, you’re definitely not destined to miserably fail, lose your Miraculous, lose your reputation, and be left in the mud as the hero Paris realized it never needed.”

“Plagg,” Tikki growled, “stop talking this instant or I’ll give you the shellacking of your life.” She turned back to Marinette. “You’re going to beat him, but for now you need to sleep. We’ll figure out how to win this after you’re healed and well-slept. Now close your eyes.”

And a single bright star shone through the clouds, and illuminated the sleeping Marinette through the still-open trapdoor.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clueless as to how she could defeat the Paragon, Ladybug seeks out help from Mayor Bourgeois.

“I’m disappointed in you, Paragon,” Hawkmoth said as a ring of purple light, in the shape of a butterfly, shone around the Paragon’s face.

“I did what I could,” the Paragon replied. “She’s very strong.”

“And so are you!” Hawkmoth snarled. “Did you forget the power I gave you? All you had to do was arrange a simple act of heroism for Ladybug to witness, and she would have instantly become your devoted admirer. Isn’t that exactly what you wanted in the first place?”

“I love her,” the Paragon explained. “And yes, I want her to love me too. But I want her to do so honestly, as herself, not because I force her to.”

“And I want her Miraculous,” Hawkmoth growled quietly, and the Paragon could feel the sheer rage his voice carried. “And now when we advance to the next stage of our plan, we’ll still have her in the way.”

The Paragon hung his head. “I’m sorry, Hawkmoth.”

“And you think an apology is sufficient,” Hawkmoth said, his voice almost a whisper.

The Paragon’s legs buckled under him, and he realized his vision was fading rapidly, and that he was losing sensation throughout his body. A noise that resembled the flapping wings of millions of butterflies filled his hearing. And he could hear Hawkmoth’s voice speaking over the cacophony.

“We have a contract,” Hawkmoth explained. “If you fail to satisfy your side of the bargain, I can invade your mind and do whatever I like with it. Possess it, rewrite it, destroy it. Disobey my orders, and I will make you suffer.”

“No!” the Paragon moaned. “Stop it! I’ll do what you want!”

The Paragon’s vision and feeling returned, and he shakily managed to stand up.

“You’re weak, Paragon,” Hawkmoth hissed. “I expected more from you.”

“I won’t let you down again,” the Paragon promised, as the purple ring faded from his face.

 

“Marinette, wake up!” Sabine shouted, shaking the bed.

Marinette blinked and picked up her head. “Oh, good morning, Mom.”

Sabine leaned over and grabbed Marinette by the shoulders. “Are you all right?”

“Um, of course,” Marinette responded hesitantly. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“You never came home from school after the explosion!” Sabine exclaimed. “We were worried sick about you! Where have you been?”

“Um, I’ve been here all along,” Marinette tried. “I was in my room, I sat on the roof for a while…did you not know I was here? You must not have seen me come in.”

“Then why didn’t you answer your phone?”

“Well, I…the battery’s dead,” Marinette improvised. “Silly me, I must have forgotten to put it on the charger.”

Sabine nodded. “I’m still furious, Marinette. After the explosion, you should have made sure to let us know you were safe. We’ve been worried all night. We even contacted the police to try to find you.”

“I’m so sorry!” Marinette apologized. “I’ll make sure I’ll never do anything like that again.”

“Well, you’d best be getting to school,” Sabine said in a slightly calmer voice. “Classes start in fifteen minutes. And why did you sleep in your chothes?”

“Oh, that was an accident. I must have just forgotten to put on my pajamas.” Marinette got up and pulled out a change of clothes from her drawer.

“And what is that thing on your desk?” Sabine asked.

Marinette looked down at a tuckered-out Plagg, who was sleeping in plain sight. “He’s, um…a new doll that I’m making for Manon.”

“I thought Ms. Chamack said that Manon didn’t need any more toys.”

“Well, it’s—actually, he’s not new; Manon already had him. I’m just sewing him back together after she tore him.”

“And is the little red doll I’ve seen around also one of Manon’s?”

“Which little red doll?” Marinette asked, worried.

“The one with the black spots, about the same size as that black one. I’ve seen that one around a few times.”

“Oh, Manon left that one the last time I babysat her.” Marinette felt she was getting better at lying…perhaps this was one of the benefits of spending time with Lila.

“Well, I have to go downstairs to tend to the customers. Please apologize to your father before you leave…we’ve both been worried sick about you.”

Marinette nodded and apologized again.

As soon as Sabine had descended down the ladder, Tikki flew out of hiding. “Sorry, I thought I wasn’t so conspicuous,” she confessed. “She’s pretty perceptive.”

“Well, at least you’re less obvious than this guy,” Marinette said, rousting Plagg by lightly poking him with a pencil.

“Hey, what gives?” Plagg complained. “I’m trying to sleep!”

“In plain view of my mom,” Marinette responded. “If not for me, your cover could have been blown.”

“Well, sorry,” Plagg drawled, his voice dripping with insincerity.

“So what do we do now?” Tikki asked.

“I think I have to skip school again, if we want to stop the Paragon,” Marinette decided. “I’m going to go up on the roof and see if I can spot any signs of him.

And as Marinette opened the trapdoor, a dismal sight met her eyes.

All across Paris, plumes of smoke were rising from ruined walls and rooftops toward the overcast sky. The streets were mostly deserted, and Marinette could see at least four car wrecks just from her balcony. This looked less like the Paris she knew than it did what Paris might look like after an apocalypse. The Paragon had certainly made quick work of the city.

“How dare he do this to my city,” Marinette whispered to herself. She descended through the trapdoor. “This is bad; this is very bad,” she said to Tikki and Plagg. “He’s been causing disasters all over the city. I can only imagine how many people must have seen him and fallen victim to his power.”

Tikki peeked out the window. “Yeah, that looks pretty bad,” she admitted. “How is your school still in session?”

Marinette thought for a minute. “We get hit with akuma attacks quite often,” she realized, “so the students and teachers are probably pretty used to things like this, even if the rest of the city isn’t.”

“Why do you think the school gets attacked so often?” Tikki asked.

“Adrien’s mentioned that to me, too,” Plagg added, causing Tikki’s eyes to bug out.

Marinette spun her head to look at Plagg. “What did you say?”

“I said, uh…it remains a mystery to me, too,” Plagg improvised.

“That doesn’t sound like what you said,” Marinette pointed out.

“Well, that’s a problem with your ears rather than with my mouth,” Plagg snapped back. Tikki sighed with relief.

“Well, I don’t know why our school always gets targeted.” Marinette’s eyes suddenly widened. “Oh, no, do you think Hawkmoth knows who I am?”

“Well, he definitely knows who Chat Noir is, considering he was able to akumatize him,” Tikki replied. “From what I understand, Hawkmoth can see pretty much anybody in Paris, and the Miraculouses protect you and Chat Noir from his perception. But once Chat Noir took off his Miraculous, he was no longer protected, and Hawkmoth finally saw who he really was. As long as you keep your Miraculous on, you should be safe.”

“Does this mean that Chat Noir goes to my school?” Marinette asked. “Because if so, that could be why Hawkmoth is always targeting it.”

“I don’t think that’s what’s going on,” Tikki replied, “because as far as we know, Hawkmoth didn’t know Chat Noir’s secret identity until just recently.”

“Wait,” Marinette realized, “if Hawkmoth knows Chat Noir’s secret identity now, then he’ll become much more dangerous.”

Plagg gulped. “I didn’t even think of that.”

“This is just getting worse and worse.” Marinette glanced out the window at the city. “I think I need to have a talk with the mayor.”

“With the mayor?” Tikki asked, surprised.

“Yeah! As long has he hasn’t already been enthralled by the Paragon. He’s got resources…if we mobilize that elite task force of his, that could be the key to bringing down the Paragon and locating Hawkmoth!”

“You mean, the task force that couldn’t even take down Lady Wifi?” Plagg asked suspiciously.

“Have a little more faith, Plagg. They didn’t even know who Lady Wifi was. If we tell them everything we know about the Paragon and about Hawkmoth, they could be incredibly useful to us!”

“This sounds like a plan!” Tikki exclaimed joyfully.

“Tikki,” Marinette said while brushing her earring, “spots on!”

Moments later, Ladybug leaped from building to building towards the Hôtel de Ville.

“Hey, slow down!” Plagg complained as he flew along besid her. “Some of us here are smaller than you are, you know.”

Ladybug groaned. “I can see why you’re called Plagg; you’re a total plague on whoever has to deal with you.”

“Wow, real original,” Plagg sneered. “Never heard that one before in all the many centuries I’ve had this name.”

“But seriously, is that why you were named that?” Ladybug asked. “I’m genuinely wondering that now.”

Plagg paused for a minute. “I don’t like your tone,” he eventually said with a huff.

“Oh, here we are!” Ladybug announced. “See, you can totally keep pace with me. Because if you fall behind, then nobody can hear you complain, and you can’t have that, can you?”

Plagg grumbled quietly as he and Ladybug entered the building and ascended the stairs to the mayor’s office.

“Is it just me, or does Chat Noir look smaller than usual?” the mayor asked as Ladybug and Plagg passed through his office door.

“Mr. Mayor, I need to talk to you, it’s urgent!” Ladybug insisted, sitting down. “It’s about the Paragon.”

“Ah, yes, I noticed him,” the mayor replied. “I like him. Frankly, I think it’s high time this city got a new hero.”

“Have you ever seen him in person?” Ladybug asked worriedly.

The mayor shook his head. “Never in the flesh, just on the news.”

Ladybug sighed with relief. “Mr. Mayor, you need to know—he’s not who he claims to be. He’s a villain. He’s one of Hawkmoth’s akumatized victims.”

The mayor sat up and leaned forward. “What makes you think that?”

“Listen. After you last saw Chat Noir here, he disappeared, and we eventually confirmed that he was akumatized, and became the Paragon. Plagg here is the kwami who gives Chat Noir his powers, and can confirm that the Paragon is indeed the same person.”

Plagg nodded. “Yep, definitely him.”

“But that makes no sense!” the mayor responded. “The Paragon’s only done good things.”

“That’s exactly what he wants you to think,” Ladybug explained. “All these disasters he’s been stopping—he’s the one who’s been causing them in the first place.”

“So why are you saying all this to me?” the mayor asked, folding his arms.

“Because I need you to mobilize your elite task force. I don’t have Chat Noir to help me fight, so they could provide an invaluable service.”

“And this is your word against the Paragon’s, then?”

Ladybug hesitated for a moment. “Yes?” she said tentatively. “But I’ve been here for much longer. I’m sure my word is more trustworthy than his.”

The mayor scratched his chin. “Well, it would be, except there’s the little matter of him never having blackmailed me.”

“Oh,” Ladybug realized. “Oh, yes, I’d like to apologize for that.”

“Of course you would,” the mayor coldly replied. “Because you need something from me now. Well, I’m afraid after our last encounter I trust the Paragon more than I trust you. I won’t ask Officer Raincomprix’s task force to mobilize until I have evidence of the Paragon’s malicious intentions from a source more reliable than you.”

“Please, Mr. Mayor, this situation is potentially disastrous!”

“Potentially disastrous for you, I’m sure, since your reputation is being soiled by the presence of a better hero than yourself. Now if you’ll please excuse yourselves from my office, I have more important matters to attend to.”

“Well, that didn’t work,” Plagg said as he and Ladybug descended the stairs.

“I guess Tikki was right when she said blackmailing him was a bad idea,” Ladybug sighed.

“Wait, you actually blackmailed him?” Plagg gasped. “I thought that was a metaphor. Wow, that’s pretty sweet.”

“No, it isn’t!” Ladybug retorted. “It means we’ve lost an ally who could have helped us beat the Paragon.”

“Yeah, I know…but blackmail’s still pretty cool.”

“Look, I’m not concerned with ‘pretty cool’ right now. I’m concerned with the fact that none of our plans have worked.”

“Maybe we should just admit defeat, then?” Plagg asked. “Or are you going to keep doing your thing where you talk about your duty to the people and use that to justify continuing your current course of action even past the point of insanity?”

“Got it in one,” Ladybug replied with a sigh.

“You must have a stressful life,” Plagg commented.

“Oh, you have no idea.”

“So what happens now?”

“I guess we just wait for the Paragon to show his face,” Ladybug decided. “He’s out there somewhere.”

“And then what? You weren’t able to beat him last night. What makes you think you can win now without the mayor’s help?”

“Oh, I don’t think I can win. But I know I have to try.”

With Plagg by her side, Ladybug stood on the rooftop of the Hôtel de Ville, looking out toward the many plumes of smoke asc ending from the city, waiting for a sign.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Paragon and Hawkmoth begin to enact their plan.

“And now, our show would like to welcome a very special guest,” Alec Cataldi reported. “Please welcome our city’s new hero, the legend in the making, the Paragon!”

The Paragon sat down across from Alec, in front of the camera. “Hello,” he said tentatively.

Alec looked surprised at the meekness of the Paragon’s voice, but continued nonetheless. “Welcome, Paragon! We’re so glad to have you on our show. To start us off, I’d like to ask you a few questions on where you come from and what you’ve been doing over the past two days.”

The Paragon shook his head. “Thanks, but I’ve already answered that on the Ladyblog.”

Alec nodded. “Well, we don’t want to disappoint our viewers with something they’ve seen before, now, do we?” He winked at the camera. “So, be sure to check out the exclusive interview on the Ladyblog, Paragon fans!” He looked back at the Paragon. “You’ve certainly amassed a lot of fans in a short time. Do you have anything to say to all the people out there?”

“Yes I do,” the Paragon replied, smiling. “I was hoping you would ask.”

“Well, go ahead, Paragon!” Alec declared with a grin.

The Paragon looked straight at the camera. “I said I was here to stop a threat. This is true. And that threat is all of you, yourselves.” He leaned forward. “Just look at our society. It’s failing, and nobody’s doing anything about it. You’re putting your faith in false heroes, who only serve to ensure that this city will never ascend to its full potential.”

Alec stared wide-eyed at the Paragon, shocked by the tone of his message.

“I’m not here to stop any villain that threatens Paris. I’m here as a beacon of hope, to unite us all. We can be better, we can ascend to utopia, and we have been held back for generations by leaders who failed to dream, who were too short-sighted and small-minded to aspire to true greatness. But this ends now. Together, you and I together can make change. And it all begins with a pretty black butterfly.”

“Now hang on a minute!” Alec interrupted. “Aren’t those butterflies the same ones that create supervillains?”

The Paragon shook his head. “You should really have learned by now to not see things from the perspective of Ladybug.”

“Many of these people have tried to take over the city.”

“And many of them haven’t. Don’t hold me accountable for the actions of others.” The Paragon turned back to face the camera. “So if you see a black butterfly, welcome it. It means that you’ve been chosen to finally live up to your full potential. And I will lead you all in the charge toward a brighter future.”

The camera panned to focus on Alec. “Isn’t that something, Paris? Stay tuned after this commercial break, Paragon fans; we’re not done yet!”

Ladybug’s jaw dropped as a commercial began and she looked up from the screen.

“Well, I guess now we know what his plan is,” Plagg said.

“He’s going to akumatize the entire city?!” Ladybug exclaimed incredulously. “How can he even do that? I thought Hawkmoth could only create one akuma at a time!”

“Eh, it’s more complicated,” Plagg explained. “Nooroo never explained all the details to me, but I’m pretty sure that Hawkmoth can send out multiple akumas as long as they go to people who are already Hawkmoth’s devoted followers. It’s happened a few times before with previous holders of his Miraculous; they’ve created entire armies.”

“But there aren’t devoted followers of Hawkmoth, right? Almost everybody in Paris knows he’s evil!”

“Well, there are followers of the Paragon, aren’t there?”

“Oh my god,” Ladybug breathed. “He’s just told them all to follow Hawkmoth.”

Plagg nodded. “So now almost anybody in the city could be akumatized at any minute.”

Ladybug clenched her fists. “This is bad. This is very bad. How do we counter that?”

“The only way I can think of would be to take out Hawkmoth himself,” Plagg pondered.

“What do you know about him?”

“I don’t know. His powers come from a cane, I think?”

“So if we get to his cane, then we can make everything right again?”

“Well, yeah, I think so. But we don’t even know where he is. And even if you did, you’d still have to get past the Paragon before you could get to Hawkmoth.”

“Then we’d better take out the Paragon first,” Ladybug decided. “Because he’s somebody we can deal with right now. And now we know he’s at the TVi studio.”

 

“Hello, and welcome to the TVi studio,” the receptionist at the desk recited. “And how might I be of—hang on, who are you?”

The strangely dressed figure walked determinedly toward the desk. “I’m looking for the Paragon. Is he still here?”

“Are you one of those villains that Ladybug is always fighting?” the receptionist asked, looking worried.

“I don’t have time for questions,” the stranger replied. “Just tell me where the Paragon is.”

“Because if so, you guys really come through here a lot,” the receptionist elaborated, nervously sliding her chair away from the desk. “You always come right by my desk and go for that elevator over there. And you’re always wearing weird costumes.”

“Fascinating. Now could you please—”

“One of them even made me wear a costume, too!” the receptionist continued. “A pink one. I have no idea why, but she said it looked good on me, so I guess that’s something. But I didn’t really like it. The color was too bright.”

“Look, I really—”

“Kind of like with your costume, actually. If the color were a bit darker, I think you’d really have something going there. But what’s with your hair? It doesn’t make sense. Just tie it all back, and I think that would be much better.”

“I didn’t come here for fashion advice, I came here for the Paragon.”

“Oh, now that guy is a total disaster. One does not simply put that many colors into one costume. And what on earth caused him to think that red and purple actually work together? Breaking news: they really don’t, and the Paragon’s costume looks like somebody fed a lazily drawn rainbow through a blender.”

“Are you quite done yet?” the stranger asked through gritted teeth.

“Now that weather girl, she knew what was up. She totally rocked that purple outfit. I mean, I usually don’t go for that sort of a dress, but she definitely pulled it off. I could still think of a few changes, though…like, those white heeled boots made no sense. I’d imagine it must be hard to be a supervillain while wearing heels. But regardless, she still has the best outfit I’ve seen…better than that odd little girl with the dolls, and definitely better than that weird hypnotist in the green and purple. And don’t even get me started on that guy with the guitar and the dragon!”

The stranger’s eyes widened. “A lot of villains come through here, I take it?”

The receptionist nodded. “You have no idea. And they always want to take that elevator.” She pointed.

“So where’s the Paragon?”

The receptionist raised her eyebrows and kept her finger pointed at the elevator.

The stranger nodded. “Got it. Thanks!”

Checking to the left and to the right to make sure nobody was approaching, the receptionist resumed her video game.

 

Swinging in a wide arc around the glass skyscraper, Ladybug landed at the entrance to the studio.

Plagg let go of Ladybug’s shoulder. “Wow, that was fast. I was hanging on for dear life there.”

“And yet we still might be too late,” Ladybug replied, running into the building as Plagg trailed behind her.

“Oh hey, Ladybug,” the receptionist said, looking up from her monitor. “The villain went to the usual place.”

Ladybug nodded, still running. “Thanks!”

“Usual place?” Plagg asked.

“Up that elevator and to the studio. All the villains do it. It’s quite convenient, actually; I’ve gotten to know this building really well.”

Ladybug drummed her fingers on the wall as she waited for the elevator to arrive. After waiting a few seconds, she began to whistle a tune to herself, and tapped her fingers to the beat.

“What are you doing?” Plagg asked.

“Er, nothing,” Ladybug replied sheepishly.

The elevator doors opened. Ladybug stepped in, pushed the button to send the elevator down to the basement, and stepped back out just before the doors closed.

“Hey, what was that for?” Plagg complained. “Wasn’t that our ride?”

“I’ve got a quicker idea,” Ladybug explained. Waiting a few seconds, she pried the elevator doors open and leaped into the shaft. Plagg yelped as they fell and landed on the top of the descending elevator.

“What the heck are you doing?” Plagg yelled.

Ladybug flung her yoyo to the top of the shaft and retracted the string. “I’m quicker than an elevator.” And retracting the string, she and Plagg were rapidly pulled up all the way to the level of the studio.

Ladybug pried the elevator doors open, and ran down the hall to the studio, bursting through the double doors, yoyo at the ready.

There was Alec, packing up cameras and equipment along with two assistants.

“Alec, is the Paragon still here?” Ladybug shouted across the room.

Alec looked up. “Oh hey, Ladybug! Sorry, you just missed him.”

“Do you know where he’s headed?”

“Yeah, he was going to Montmartre. He said to tell Nadja there’s going to be a newsworthy story there in just a little while.”

“Not if I have anything to say about it,” Ladybug growled.

“What, do you have a problem with the news?” Alec asked accusatorily.

“Look, ‘newsworthy story’ almost inevitably means supervillains.”

“What’s wrong with supervillains? Supervillains are cool!”

Ladybug sighed. “You’re not the one who has to fight every single one of them.”

“Fair point,” Alec admitted. “I suppose that would get exhausting.”

“Yep. Especially this villain. I’ve been having to go all over the city.”

“This villain, you say? Are you suggesting the Paragon is evil?”

“Yeah, he’s quite dangerous.”

“Ha!” Alec exclaimed. “I suspected as much. Tried to get it out of him in the interview, but that didn’t work out. Well, go beat him, then.”

“I’ll do my best.” Ladybug turned and ran out of the room. She didn’t even bother with the elevator—she just leaped out of the first window she found.

 

“Good work, Paragon,” Hawkmoth said, as a glowing purple ring formed around the Paragon’s face. “And now, Ladybug is the only thing that stands in our way.”

“Perhaps your army could take care of her?” the Paragon asked. “I don’t know if I can do it.”

“Oh, you will beat her yourself,” Hawkmoth replied coldly, “and you will do it before my armies are even released. We can’t risk having her around once our plan is fully in motion.”

“And what if I fail?”

“You must not fail. Because at the moment, you’re the only one who can stop her. I have to rely on you here.”

“Right, of course I plan to not fail. But on the off chance that she manages to beat me, what do we do from there to ensure that the plan still succeeds?”

“From there, I’ll handle it, because if she beats you, then you’re no more useful to me than any other villain. And I’ll take measures to ensure that you regret your failure for the rest of your life.”

“Lovely,” the Paragon replied as he alighted atop the highest dome of Sacre-Coeur.

“Well then, Paragon,” Hawkmoth said, twirling his cane in his hand, “now’s your time to shine.”

 

“All right, what’s the plan?” Plagg shouted, clinging on to Ladybug’s shoulder as they swung across the city.

“Same plan as yesterday!” Ladybug replied. “I fight him, try to exploit his feelings towards me as a weakness, figure out where his akuma is and capture it.”

“So why do I need to be here?”

“Because I like having someone to talk to.”

“Seriously?” Plagg complained. “That’s all I am to you?”

“Well, I expected you to be constantly volunteering helpful information like Tikki always does.”

“What information do you need? It’s not like the advice I could give would have any actual effect on your actions. You literally have one plan that you use in every single situation!”

“And what plan is that?”

“Fight the bad guy, capture the akuma. Every single time. Why not change it up a little?”

“Hey, if it works, it works.”

“Yeah, and it worked so well yesterday.”

“You got any better ideas?” Ladybug snapped. “We’re pretty much out of options here.”

“Well, since you’ve already got me here, why don’t you just put my Miraculous on his finger and have me transform him?”

“Hang on, would that get rid of the akuma?” Ladybug asked.

“I’m not really sure. I don’t think so. But it would definitely suppress the akuma, so he wouldn’t be controlled by Hawkmoth until he detransformed.”

“And what good is that? It’s just postponing our problems. As soon as he detransforms I have to fight the Paragon all over again, and he’ll even have your Miraculous to give to Hawkmoth.”

“Well, for the whole time he’s transformed, he’ll be willing to listen to you. So for instance, you could convince him to put on handcuffs, and then when his transformation fades you’ll have the Paragon in handcuffs. See? I’m brilliant.”

“Hey, that could actually work,” Ladybug realized. “Except that I’d somehow have to get the ring on his finger.”

“If you can’t manage even that, then you have no hope of releasing his akuma.”

“I can manage it, I think. It’ll be risky, though.”

“Do you ever do anything that isn’t risky?”

“Yes, I do!” Ladybug responded, somewhat affrontedly. “I’ll have you know that when I’m not busy stopping supervillains I’m just a normal girl with a normal life!”

“Who constantly has to spring into action at any moment. Yeah, I’m not buying it. Speaking of buying, do you think you could get me some more of that cheese?”

Ladybug’s jaw dropped. “Are you serious?! I don’t think there’s any camembert left in Paris. How can you possibly be hungry again?”

“Hey, I don’t make the rules for when I get hungry. Besides, it’s been a full day.”

Ladybug groaned. “Could you still transform the Paragon into Chat Noir without eating?”

“Yeah, but that’s not my point.”

“Well then, you’ll just have to wait,” Ladybug decided. “Because I’m not going to put off this fight any longer.”

 

The Paragon stretched his arms out dramatically as he surveyed the rapidly expanding crowd at the base of the church. “Hello, my fellow Parisians!” he shouted happily. “How good of you to gather here today!”

The crowd cheered, packing closer to get a better view of their new-found idol.

“As we stand here today,” the Paragon continued, “I will make you a promise. Henceforth, you will never have anything to fear. By the magic of the black butterfly, every single one of you will be made better: more clever, more capable, more powerful. And it begins today!”

“You’re a fraud, Paragon!” one voice shouted from below.

A collective gasp emanated from the crowd, which parted to reveal the one dissenter.

The Paragon remained completely motionless on the top of the tower. “And who are you?” he said in a voice that sounded forcibly controlled.

The boy nervously adjusted his hair. “My name’s Ivan. But you knew me as Stoneheart. I was the first person ever corrupted by one of Hawkmoth’s akumas.”

The Paragon laughed. “Corrupted? Hardly. You were given an opportunity, and you used it to do terrible things. And now you’re seeking to blame your own actions on your benefactor.”

Ivan clenched his fists. “That’s not true. I would never willingly do anything like that.”

“Well, don’t worry, you’ll have an opportunity to prove that once you receive Hawkmoth’s gift to you,” the Paragon replied with a laugh. “And fortunately, this time there will be other powerful people to put you in check.”

“Name one akumatized person who did anything good!” Ivan yelled. “Go on, I don’t think you can. Because Hawkmoth is the one controlling them all, and Hawkmoth’s intentions are not to do good!” He turned to the crowd. “How do you all not see right through this?”

“The people here aren’t following Hawkmoth,” the Paragon replied coolly. “They’re following me, the hero of Paris. And they trust me when I tell them that only good will come of this. Isn’t that right, everyone?”

A loud cheer sounded out from the crowd. Ivan found himself grabbed and forcibly carried away.

The Paragon wiped a small amount of sweat off his face, and continued addressing the crowd. “So prepare yourselves, everybody, because the butterflies are coming. A thousand today, another thousand tomorrow, and so forth, every single one of them carrying the hope for the future.”

From behind the Paragon, there was a loud mechanical noise, as if an immense machine were coming to life. And slowly, the roof of the cathedral split into two, each half rotating down and to the side, leaving a massive opening behind the Paragon where the church’s rooftop had been.

A bright beam of light shone up from inside the church, illuminating the glowing shape of a butterfly on the thick gray clouds that were rolling low over Paris. In the darkness the clouds cast, the symbol could be seen even from across the city. And everybody who saw it knew: Hawkmoth was coming.

From the church, a massive object began to rise up—some manner of infernal machine that couldn’t be identified from below, that must have been as big as the entire church.

And a small red bug swung in and tackled the Paragon from the side.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> High above the streets of Paris, as Hawkmoth's giant machine rises, Ladybug and the Paragon do battle.

“Well hello there, beetle girl,” the Paragon said with a smile as he and Ladybug careened off the dome, the former constantly pummeling the latter with her fists.

“I am quite done with you, Paragon!” Ladybug replied through gritted teeth.

The two crashed into the surface of the machine rising up from the church. Ladybug found herself rolling down a slope, and managed to steady herself by grabbing onto a gap between two metal plates.

“Don’t worry,” the Paragon replied. “I’m almost done with you too. There’s just one more thing I need.”

“You’ve gotten much more cocky since we last fought,” Ladybug commented.

The Paragon shrugged and grinned. “What can I say? Things are just going very well for me. I’ve got hundreds of thousands of devoted admirers, I’m about to become the first akumatized villain to ever actually defeat you, and I’m going to be forever honored by Hawkmoth for making his plan a reality. So yeah, I’ve got lots to be cocky about.”

Ladybug shakily stood up, struggling to keep her balance. “Really? Because you weren’t able to beat me last time. What makes you think this time will be different?”

“Because this time, if you run away, you lose,” the Paragon said with a laugh. “The stakes are too high for you to flee.”

Having found her balance, Ladybug began to spin her yoyo. “Tell me more about the stakes. Hawkmoth’s building an army, isn’t he?”

“Oh, yes,” the Paragon replied happily. “Soon, the butterflies will come. All your old enemies, and so many new faces too, thousands more every day. I can’t wait to meet all of them, but unfortunately you won’t have the chance. Because your story ends now. And believe it or not, Ladybug, this world is capable of carrying on without you.”

“Well then,” Ladybug replied, flinging her yoyo, “let’s see what fate has in store for me.”

The Paragon watched the incoming yoyo and easily sidestepped, as the weapon flew past him and all the way to the next street over. He raised one eyebrow questioningly. “Is that all you’ve got?”

Without dislodging the yoyo from where it had landed, Ladybug leaped into the air and to the side, hitting the Paragon with the yoyo’s wire and knocking him off balance, sending him sliding down the side of the machine. Before he had a chance to right himself, Ladybug landed on him and pinned him down on the steep metal slope.

With a wink of his eye, the Paragon gave Ladybug a powerful shove, and pushed her far enough away that he could fly back up into the air. But again, he failed to watch out for the yoyo’s wire, and found several loops of it closing in around him. Flying straight upwards, he barely managed to avoid being trapped.

“All right, I’ve had enough of this,” the Paragon growled, and grabbed onto the yoyo’s string. Ladybug yelped as she found herself being spun around the Paragon in a circle. As he released the string, Ladybug flew quite a distance to land on the other side of the machine. But the Paragon was somehow already there, pinning her down with his foot and casually twirling the yoyo in his hand.

“Okay, that was pretty impressive,” Ladybug admitted.

“Thanks!” the Paragon replied cheerfully. “Anyway, down to business. Here’s a question, do you think I can grab your earrings from this position?”

Ladybug shook her head. “If you reached down, I’d be able to throw you off balance and get away.”

The Paragon nodded. “Exactly. So I’m not going to do that.”

“Why don’t you just skip ahead to your actual plan?” Ladybug requested, carefully slipping the Cat Miraculous out of her pocket and into her palm.

“Gladly,” the Paragon replied, grabbing Ladybug by the torso and throwing her high up into the air.

Ascending quickly, Ladybug tried to get her bearings, which was difficult when her body was spinning on several axes. But the chaotic motion suddenly stabilized, and Ladybug realized the Paragon had grabbed her from below, and was carrying her even farther upwards.

“You survived a fall from the lower level of the Eiffel Tower,” the Paragon recalled, “so I guess we’ll have to go higher than that. And I should pick a more interesting target for your landing…perhaps that fuel truck down there, that ought to make a nice explosion. Do you think you can survive that, Ladybug?”

Ladybug shook her head. “I doubt it. But I’m not certain.”

“Well, there’s an easy way to ensure your survival. Just let me take your earrings.”

“How exactly does that ensure my survival?” Ladybug asked, turning her head to look down at the distant ground. There was the machine—was that a zeppelin?

“Because at that point I’ll have no reason to try and kill you,” the Paragon coolly responded.

The two of them passed into the clouds, at the center of the glowing butterfly symbol.

“Say, Paragon,” Ladybug tried, “even if you defeat me, what’s your plan for getting the Cat Miraculous?”

The Paragon huffed indignantly. “I’m not an idiot, Ladybug. I know that you’ll have found it by now. So I’ll just get it from you.”

“So do you think I have it with me right now?”

“Oh, probably,” the Paragon said nonchalantly. “I’m not going to worry about that until you’re no longer a threat.”

“And for that exact reason,” Ladybug announced with a smirk, “you shouldn’t be so quick to judge yourself as not being an idiot.”

As the Paragon paused for a moment to contemplate what that might mean, Ladybug slipped the silver ring onto his finger. The Paragon froze.

Ladybug seized the moment to escape and grab the Paragon from behind. Folding his fingers into a fist and thrusting it forward, she yelled: “Plagg, claws out!”

Realizing that their ascent had stopped, Ladybug looked down at the rapidly approaching city as they descended through the layer of cloud. If Plagg failed to show up, she wouldn’t have a yoyo with which to save herself. Fortunately, the Paragon seemed temporarily incapacitated by the sudden addition of the ring, so that was one less thing to worry about.

Ladybug spied a tiny black speck that was approaching rapidly and appeared to be screaming. Ah, there he was.

“This was not what I signed up for!” Plagg yelled as he was yanked up the long distance to the ring and pulled inside.

A burst of glowing light expanded from the Paragon’s body, knocking Ladybug away from him. And when the light faded, there was Chat Noir, just a little more than an arm’s reach away.

“Chat Noir, can you hear me?” Ladybug shouted.

Chat Noir opened his eyes. “Ah, Ladybug! We always find each other in the strangest of places, it seems. Where are we, exactly?”

“Far too close to the ground!” Ladybug yelled. “Can you reach me?”

Chat Noir extended his arm toward Ladybug’s. “Not quite!” he replied. “Here, grab my staff.” He snatched his staff from his belt and pulled it apart into two pieces. One piece he extended towards Ladybug, and the other he extended towards the ground.

Ladybug grabbed on, and was steadied when the other part hit the ground. Balancing carefully, Chat Noir slowly lowered himself and Ladybug to a rooftop below.

“I think I missed a lot,” he commented as he brushed dust off his clothes. “Was I controlled by a villain again?”

“Not in so many words,” Ladybug replied. “But don’t worry about that right now; we’ve got enough to deal with already.”

“Oh? What’s that?”

Ladybug pointed a finger, directing Chat Noir’s gaze toward the zeppelin that had risen up from inside the church. “That.”

Chat Noir’s eyes widened. “Now that’s a cool machine. What’s it for?”

“It belongs to Hawkmoth,” Ladybug explained. “He’s trying to build an entire army of akumatized villains. I don’t know how, but that zeppelin’s going to help him. I suspect he’s inside there.”

“So what’s the plan? We get in there and stop him?”

“Honestly, I didn’t think that far ahead. I was more concerned with stopping the Paragon.”

“And who’s that, now?”

Ladybug looked into Chat Noir’s eyes. “We’ll get to that later. But we don’t have to worry about him, at least for now.”

Chat Noir cocked his head to the side, seemingly confused, but then focused back at the zeppelin. “He’d only use something so obvious if it were essential to his plan. So if we take down the zeppelin, that ought to foil his plan. What if I use my Cataclysm on it?”

“No!” Ladybug yelled out suddenly. “Don’t use your Cataclysm. We can’t risk having you detransform!”

Chat Noir folded his arms. “Is there something you’re not telling me, my lady?”

“Yes, there is. But you don’t have to worry about it until after we’ve taken down Hawkmoth. Just don’t use your Cataclysm, and we’ll be fine.”

Ladybug turned to get a closer look at the zeppelin. Underneath the round hull, there was a relatively small metal gondola with rounded edges, possibly big enough to contain one large room. The box was surrounded on three sides by ornate stained glass windows, and on the fourth side, which Ladybug assumed to be the front, there was a round rose window, the panes of which were currently sliding open.

And through the opened window gushed a torrent of…well, something. It was dark purple, and seemed at first to move like a liquid, but as it got further from the zeppelin it spread out, up, and around the entire hull of the zeppelin, forming a rapidly shifting cloud.

“They’re akumas,” Chat Noir breathed. “That must be thousands of them.”

“What are they doing?” Ladybug wondered out loud. “Are they just flying around the zeppelin?”

“No, look!” Chat Noir pointed out. “Most of them are staying, but some are flying out across the city.”

“I don’t know if I can catch all of them,” Ladybug admitted. “Especially not if each of them becomes a supervillain.”

“Wait, so are we actually going to be dealing with thousands of supervillains?” Chat Noir asked. “Because I’m pretty sure we haven’t even fought a hundred—total—in our entire time as heroes.”

“We’d better be quick,” Ladybug decided “or else we’ll never be able to get past them all to get into the zeppelin.”

Chat Noir cracked his knuckles. “I’ll follow your lead, Ladybug.”

Ladybug began to run, and jumped off the roof to land on the next building. Chat Noir pushed off with his staff and landed just behind her.

“Say, do you have my yoyo?” Ladybug asked as they ran.

Chat Noir checked his belt. “Huh, it seems that I do. Here, catch!”

Ladybug caught the yoyo and strapped it to her hip as she jumped to another building.

From this perspective, Ladybug and Chat Noir could see that the zeppelin was moving, and was already two blocks from the church, still low above the buildings. The cloud of butterflies surrounding it had now expanded so much that Ladybug thought that she could actually hear the sound of their beating wings on the wind.

And as the zeppelin’s shadow shifted over streets and houses, Ladybug saw several figures underneath, standing together on a rooftop.

“It looks like those akumas were fast,” she said to Chat Noir. “We’ve got some villains to deal with.”

“How many?”

Ladybug squinted. “Four. I can’t quite make them out from this distance, but it looks like one of them has wings. Possibly Dislocoeur; remember him?”

Chat Noir nodded, and looked over to the rooftop. “I see a purple light; that looks like Lady Wifi.”

“What about the other two?” Ladybug asked. “Got anything on them?”

Chat Noir flicked a small screen out of his staff, and fiddled with the display until an image showed up. “Okay, the other two are Chronogirl and Evillustrator.”

“So Hawkmoth’s starting with the veterans,” Ladybug said. “That’s not good.”

“Well then, my lady, let’s go catch some butterflies.”

“That’s a good plan if you want to die,” a voice said from behind them.

Both Ladybug and Chat Noir abruptly spun around to face the person who had spoken.

She stood there calmly, with a reed flute in her hand, and an orange cloth tail whipping in the wind behind her.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ladybug, Chat Noir, and Volpina fight against Dislocoeur, Chronogirl, Lady Wifi, and the Evillustrator.

Ladybug was quick to act, leaping forward and pinning the newcomer down to the rooftop.

The orange-clad girl laughed quietly. “Always happy to see me, aren’t you?”

“What are you doing, Volpina?” Ladybug demanded.

“I’m here to help,” Volpina replied with a small shrug. “I came to fight the Paragon, because I thought that would be fun. But now I think I’ll help fight Hawkmoth instead; that sounds fun too.”

“Sorry, Volpina, but we’re not falling for your lies anymore,” Chat Noir said, casually tossing his staff in the air and catching it. “You can’t trick us into trusting you.”

“Well, I suppose I could fight against you instead if you want. But then that wouldn’t be any fun for either of you, now, would it?”

“Why would you want to work with us?” Ladybug asked, keeping her arm pressing Volpina down on the roof.

“Oh, I don’t know,” Volpina said with a quick roll of her eyes. “I guess I’m just not keen on Hawkmoth creating an army of villains and taking over the world.”

“Why wouldn’t you be keen on that when you’re literally one of his villains?” Chat Noir asked.

Volpina chuckled. “Ah, now that’s where your assumptions diverge from reality.”

“Don’t play games with us, Volpina,” Ladybug cautioned. “Not when we’ve got all this to deal with already.”

“Fair enough,” Volpina sighed. “Do you see this necklace? It’s a Miraculous. There’s no akuma in here. Just my kwami. She’s named Trixx, she’s nice, although she has a bit of an attitude problem.”

“You’re the one with the attitude problem, Volpina,” Ladybug snapped. “Why should we believe that obviously fabricated story?”

“I got it from that old man with the pointy beard. He kept it in an octagonal box inside a record player. Sound familar, Ladybug?”

Ladybug drew back. “Yes. Yes, it does.”

“Not to me,” Chat Noir pointed out.

“Hawkmoth’s not in control here,” Volpina continued. “It’s just me, your very own Lila Rossi, here at last to fight alongside you.”

Ladybug released Volpina and stood up. “All right, Volpina, I believe you. So, what do you make of those four?”

Volpina looked up at the four figures on the rooftop under the zeppelin. “I can take the two on the left; you get the ones on the right. Then we meet up inside the zeppelin.”

Chat Noir raised one eyebrow. “You think you can take on two villains at once, all on your own?”

Volpina winked and held up her flute. “I’m not alone. Right in here, I have all the illusions I could ever need. And I’ve devised a diabolical plan.”

“Diabolical?” Ladybug asked quizzically.

“Okay, perhaps that’s not the best word,” Volpina said with a shrug. “Perhaps shrewd, or crafty, or cunning. I’m not a thesaurus, so I’ll let you two figure that out. Now before we attack, did you notice Lady Wifi’s cameras? Look: there, there, and there. Oh, and that one above the church. If you want to pull off an ambush, you’re going to need to avoid being seen by any of those.”

“I think I see a route,” Ladybug replied. “We jump across that street, then along that rooftop, and around the park. Follow my lead.”

“Right behind you, my lady.”

Chat Noir turned sharply to glare at Volpina. “No. You don’t get to call her that. I call her that!”

“Can you two please not do this right now?” Ladybug groaned.

Volpina smiled at Chat Noir, who quietly growled back. And both took off running behind Ladybug, carefully dodging the view of the cameras and darting through the alleyways.

They assembled behind a large chimney, keeping a close eye on the four figures at the other end of the rooftop. The zeppelin loomed above, as did the cloud of black butterflies surrounding it.

“I’ve got this,” Volpina declared. She played a few notes on her flute, and a ball of glowing light appeared at the far end. With a flick of her wrist, she sent the light flying toward the other side of the building.

The four villains all turned their heads to look where the light had landed. They were out of earshot, but could be easily seen as having a brief discussion. Then, Chronogirl and Dislocoeur both leaped off the side of the building and headed in the direction the light had been traveling.

“I’d best be off to deal with that, then,” Volpina said with a grin. “Good luck with these two. I’ll admit I don’t envy you.” And with a quick backwards leap, she was gone.

 

Chronogirl skated along the top ridge of a low rooftop—a move that she was very proud of being able to pull off. Dislocoeur flew alongside her.

“Do you see where they went?” Chronogirl asked.

Dislocoeur flew slightly higher. “I see Ladybug! She’s going around that corner, to the right.”

“I call dibs on Chat Noir,” Chronogirl declared. “I actually killed him once. So since I’ve been robbed of the honor of killing him, his life is rightfully mine to end.”

Dislocoeur sighed. “Are you sure? Because I was hoping to take him down as well. He teamed up with me once, and then betrayed me. I want to bring him back to serve me forever.”

“He won’t be much good to you if he’s dead,” Chronogirl snapped back, leaping off the building to land on the street below.

“Well, it’s not like I’m going to just let you kill him,” Dislocoeur retorted, folding his wings and flying sharply downward alongside her. “If you want to kill him, you’ll have to get to him before I do.”

Chronogirl sighed. “It’s not a competition, Dislocoeur.”

“Let’s make it one. How about…one point for dodging an attack, ten points for taking one of them down.”

“All right,” Chronogirl said with a shrug. “And you’re going to lose, just like you always do. Oh, look, my backup’s here!”

A bright light appeared on the sidewalk, and a second Chronogirl sped out. She checked her watch and looked up happily at her past self speeding by her. “Hey, wait up!” she yelled.

The second Chronogirl skated alongside the first. “Fancy seeing you here,” she commented.

“Always lovely to see you,” the first Chronogirl responded.

“Are you flirting with your future self?” Dislocoeur asked incredulously.

“Absolutely not!” both Chronogirls replied in unison.

“Good,” Dislocoeur grumbled. “Anyway, let’s keep moving.”

“Hey, listen to me for a minute,” the second Chronogirl said to the first. “There’s something important you should know.”

“Keep your mouth shut,” the first Chronogirl replied. “Your future doesn’t exist anymore; your presence here is going to change everything. So whatever happened in the future isn’t relevant.”

“No, it is!” the second Chronogirl insisted. “Because there’s something important that you don’t know.”

“Were you able to beat them?” the first asked. “In your future, when it was just you, did you win?”

“Yes, I did,” the second acknowledged. She glanced over at Dislocoeur. “Or technically, ‘we’ did. But we—”

“Look, if you were able to figure it out on your own, I can too,” the first insisted. “It’s best if I know as little as possible, or else I could have incorrect assumptions and make a fatal mistake. But if you were able to win with just one of us, it’ll be even easier with two of us.”

The second Chronogirl nodded. “Fair point.”

“There’s Ladybug!” Dislocoeur exclaimed, and pointed at a spotted figure on a rooftop.

“Go up there and drive her down towards us!” the first Chronogirl ordered.

“What, so you get the ten points?” Dislocoeur asked with one eyebrow raised.

“No, idiot. So she’ll have to face all three of us instead of just you. I’m actually focused on the goal here.”

“Okay, fine,” Dislocoeur grumbled, and flew up towards the rooftop, folding his wings and going into a spin to dodge Ladybug’s yoyo. As he approached, he fired a volley of arrows, causing Ladybug to leap backwards off the edge of the roof.

“One point to me!” he shouted. “Did you see? I totally dodged that yoyo back there!”

“Yeah, I saw,” the first Chronogirl replied, skating towards where Ladybug had landed with her duplicate close behind her. As Ladybug wrapped her yoyo around a high chimney and leaped high into the air, the first Chronogirl skated along the roof of a parked car and leaped as high as she could. Her hand missed Ladybug’s leg by a finger’s width.

Landing on the pavement, she looked up to see Dislocoeur fighting Chat Noir. “That one’s mine!” she shouted, and began to skate up a fire escape.

“We’re at 4-0 here!” Dislocoeur exclaimed happily. “He attacked me three times, and always missed!”

As Chronogirl reached the rooftop, she saw the end of Chat Noir’s staff whoosh over her head as she reflexively ducked.

“All right, 4-1,” Dislocoeur acknowledged.

“You’re wasting your time!” the second Chronogirl shouted from the ground below.

“No, you’re wasting our time!” the first Chronogirl shot back. “Why aren’t you helping?”

Chat Noir pushed off the roof with his staff and landed on the street below. The first Chronogirl leaped straight over the side, and sparks flew out from her skates as she hit the ground. Dislocoeur dove off the other side of the building, spreading his wings just before he would have crashed into the pavement. And as they rounded the corners of the building and sped towards each other, they saw two figures between them, back to back, Ladybug facing the first Chronogirl and Chat Noir facing Dislocoeur.

“Ha! He’s mine!” Dislocoeur yelled, notching an arrow. The first Chronogirl skated on, reaching out her hand.

“No! Look out!” the second Chronogirl yelled.

Dislocoeur fired the arrow. As it hit Ladybug, both she and Chat Noir vanished in a puff of orange smoke. The arrow passed straight through the illusion to hit the first Chronogirl.

Looking down at the scene from a chimney top, Volpina pumped her fist triumphantly.

The first Chronogirl stopped, eyes wide, and a black sheen flashed over her lips. Then she narrowed her eyes and turned to Dislocoeur. “You know, you were never worth my time,” she declared. “You’re useless as a partner, and not a challenge to compete with. I’d work better on my own, without you slowing me down.”

A look of terror on his face, Dislocoeur flapped his wings frantically, trying to turn around. But the first Chronogirl was much too fast for him: she leaped high in the air and tagged him with her palm.

Frozen in both space and time, Dislocoeur slowly faded away.

“I tried to warn you those two weren’t real!” the second Chronogirl shouted. “And look where that got you.

“In your future, he didn’t shoot you, did he?” the first Chronogirl asked.

The second Chronogirl shook her head. “Nope. We discovered the illusions right away, and took down the real Ladybug and Chat Noir easily.”

“Then why did you come back here?” the first yelled. “This mess is your fault!”

“Look, we can still win this,” the second tried to explain. “All we have to do—”

“No, we can’t win this,” the first interrupted. “I can win this, without you.”

“Oh no,” the second breathed. “His arrow turned you against me as well, didn’t it?”

“You can’t blame Dislocoeur for your problems,” the first retorted. “He’s long gone now. And it’s time for you to join him!”

And the two Chronogirls sped at each other, each tagging the other in the same moment. The frozen image of the two of them silently faded away.

“Wow,” Volpina whispered to herself, watching the scene with a maniacal grin. “That was a good plan.”

 

Chat Noir carefully peeked around the side of the chimney, taking care not to be seen. “Perhaps we could use a little extra luck here?” he asked.

Ladybug nodded. “But we’ll have to be expeditious. Remember, we’re trying to get into the zeppelin; we only fight those two if we have to.” She threw her yoyo into the air. “Lucky Charm!”

A surprisingly large red and black object fell down from above and landed next to Ladybug. “What is this?” she wondered out loud.

“I still don’t really understand how this works,” Chat Noir admitted.

Ladybug pressed a button on the object, and two curved red pieces of metal, each adorned with large black spots, unfolded like beetle wings from the top, revealing a black platform large enough to stand on. “It’s a hoverboard,” Ladybug realized. “So I can get up to the zeppelin while still being able to use my yoyo.”

Something caught Chat Noir’s eye, and he turned around. “Um, Ladybug, it looks like we missed one of the cameras. I think they know where we are now.”

There was a quiet noise as the chimney slowly disappeared, leaving just a little bit of glowing red residue as it vanished. Ladybug and Chat Noir looked over to see the Evillustrator brandishing his pen with a triumphant look on his face.

“I forgot he could erase things,” Chat Noir admitted.

“Nice hoverboard, Ladybug!” Lady Wifi shouted, flicking a purple icon from her phone and leaping onto it. “Mine’s better.”

“I’d love to stay and chat,” Ladybug yelled back, “but I’m on a tight schedule here.” That’s something that never changes, she thought to herself.

As Ladybug took off on her hoverboard, a barrage of glowing purple icons flew around her. Figuring out the hoverboard’s controls as quickly as she could, she ducked and dodged, and the icons hit the underside of the zeppelin and the buildings behind her.

A rope wrapped around Ladybug’s ankle, and Ladybug felt both herself and her hoverboard being pulled back down towards the building below. “Sorry, Ladybug,” the Evillustrator yelled as he hauled on the rope, “you’re not getting past us.”

Ladybug responded by throwing her yoyo to hit the Evillustrator’s chest, knocking him backwards and causing him to drop his end of the rope. Quickly, she began to untie the other end. But just as she released it, she was hit in the chest by a pause icon, and was left immobilized in midair.

That was when Lady Wifi found herself grappled from behind by Chat Noir, who pinned her back with his staff. Kicking up, he flipped his opponent into the air, causing her to drop her phone, which he immediately smashed against the roof below.

The pause icon on Ladybug’s chest disappeared. Wasting no time, she threw her yoyo and triumphantly caught the butterfly flying out of the phone.

Another butterfly flew down from the swarm around the zeppelin, and entered the phone, pulling the broken pieces back together.

Lady Wifi picked up the newly repaired phone and grinned. She turned towards Chat Noir, who yelped and leaped off the edge of the building, pushing off the street below with his staff.

Ladybug looked back up at the zeppelin. It had already moved a fair distance, and within seconds would no longer be overhead. Pushing a lever on her hoverboard, she flew quickly toward the gondola mounted near the front of the craft.

Just before she would have arrived, a figure flew in front of her, blocking her way. Ladybug ducked as a spinning metal saw blade shot toward her through the air.

“Looks like you need to brush up your plan,” the Evillustrator said with a grin as he pulled a lever on his newly created jetpack. With a quick sketch on his drawing pad, a transparent box appeared over Ladybug and descended, trapping her and her hoverboard underneath as it fell.

Ladybug threw her yoyo at the interior walls of the box, but in vain; it appeared to have no effect. Evillustrator watched and laughed as the heroine fell.

Chat Noir ran down the street, dodging as Lady Wifi fired attack after attack. As he leaped into the air, propelled by his staff, he saw the box falling on Ladybug. Quickly, he flipped backwards to land behind Lady Wifi, and grabbing her wrist, he sent a pause icon directly at the box, which became immobilized mid-fall. Ladybug fell out from underneath to land on the roof, and her hoverboard landed next to her. She sighed in relief.

“All right, I’m getting bored with this,” the Evillustrator growled. He flipped his pencil over and began to erase the roof under Ladybug’s feet. Ladybug quickly and carefully stepped backwards, avoiding the oncoming chasms in the roof tiles. But the cracks did reach her hoverboard, which, with no pilot, fell down into the now exposed attic below.

Ladybug gritted her teeth and jumped down into the attic, emerging on her hoverboard.

Chat Noir grappled Lady Wifi from behind again, and was surprised when she dematerialized from his grasp, only to appear again by what appeared to be a small cell tower on the next roof over. He looked over at her, and she flashed him a wink. It was then that Chat Noir realized that he was standing on Lady Wifi’s glowing purple hoverboard icon. As Lady Wifi tapped her phone, the icon shot forward, pulling Chat Noir’s feet out from under him and sending him falling backwards over the edge of the roof.

Ladybug’s yoyo wrapped around Chat Noir’s ankle, and he found himself abruptly pulled up to stand on top of the hoverboard, alongside Ladybug.

“With this swarm of akumas here, we can’t defeat them!” Ladybug explained as they dipped and swerved around spinning blades and shots of purple energy. “If we break the phone and pen, new akumas will just enter them. So we have to either get past them to the gondola or find a way to immobilize them.”

“How much time do you have left before your transformation wears off?” Chat Noir asked.

Ladybug felt her right earring. “Three minutes. But that’s enough time.”

“No, it’s not! Sure, there’s a chance we could get past these two in three minutes. But what happens then? How can you possibly hope to take down Hawkmoth’s zeppelin with no time left?”

“I’ve got to do it,” Ladybug replied. “I don’t know how. But I don’t have any choice in the matter. It’s not a matter of whether I should stop him; it’s a matter of how.”

“What if you only make things worse?” Chat Noir exclaimed, throwing one piece of his staff to spin around and hit the Evillustrator’s jetpack, causing him to stutter and fall. “You could just hand the Ladybug Miraculous right to him!”

“Relax, Chat Noir. I’ve got it covered.”

“You really don’t,” Chat Noir sighed. “I’m sorry, Ladybug, but you have to be kitten me right now. You don’t have a good chance of purr-vival.”

“Did you just make cat puns about my potential impending death?” Ladybug asked incredulously.

Chat Noir smacked his hand to his face. “I’m sorry. It slipped out.”

Lady Wifi suddenly materialized right in front of the hoverboard. While Chat Noir yelped in surprise, Ladybug simply narrowed her eyes and knocked Lady Wifi backwards with her yoyo.

Lady Wifi righted herself without falling, and laughed. “You’ve used your Lucky Charm, I know exactly where you’re trying to go, and there’s a whole flock of akumas waiting to refresh me. Face it, it’s over.”

Chat Noir nudged Ladybug and motioned his head, indicating her to look in a particular direction.

Down below, Ladybug saw a white and blue van, the doors of which were opening.

Lady Wifi failed to miss the gesture. “What are you looking at?” she demanded.

And as she turned to look down, a young police officer stepped out and fired what looked like a small cannon.

Nothing visible emerged from the cannon, but Ladybug and Chat Noir could hear it making a buzzing noise. Lady Wifi, on the other hand, wrapped her arms around her face, yelling out. The icon she stood on faded away, and she collapsed to the roof below.

“It’s the Akuma Squad!” Ladybug exclaimed happily.

Several more people emerged from the van, and began to rapidly assemble a tall ladder, which they leaned against the building and began to climb.

“Officer Roger!” Ladybug exclaimed delightedly as the first person reached the roof. “You came!”

“Of course I did, Ladybug,” Roger replied with a grin. “It’s our duty to the city, after all.”

“What did you do to Lady Wifi?” Ladybug asked, worriedly looking at her fallen opponent.

“We got an EMP cannon. It took out her phone; it won’t work anymore.”

“Do you think you can handle it from here?”

Roger glanced over to where two officers were pointing a device at Evillustrator. “I think so. Anything we should know?”

“Yes. Don’t release their akumas; new ones will just come down from the swarm. And Volpina’s on our side; don’t attack her!”

“All right, Ladybug. We’ve got this. You got the zeppelin?”

Ladybug nodded. She and Chat Noir grabbed onto each other to balance, and the hoverboard shot up toward the zeppelin.

“You’ve only got two dots on your earrings,” Chat Noir observed.

Ladybug drew a deep breath. “We’ll have to be quick, then.”

And sure enough, there was the gondola. Ladybug carefully steered the hoverboard to magnetically attach to the side wall next to a large glass window. With a quick punch, Ladybug shattered the nearest pane of the window and stepped through, with her yoyo spinning and at the ready. Chat Noir stepped alongside her, twirling his staff in his hand.

They were greeted by a very deep voice, laughing slowly and quietly.

“The Miraculous Ladybug and Chat Noir,” Hawkmoth declared as he opened his eyes and raised his head. “We meet at last.”


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ladybug, Chat Noir, and Volpina take on Hawkmoth.

“I’m so glad you finally decided to stop by,” Hawkmoth said casually, spinning the top of his cane between his fingers. “I invited you months ago. We Miraculous holders really should know each other better than we do.” He spun the tip of his cane in the air, tapped it on the ground, and turned to look over his shoulder at Ladybug and Chat Noir, who were standing silhouetted in front of a giant rose window as pale white butterflies slowly flew around them. “But you didn’t come here to talk, did you?”

“Give it up, Hawkmoth,” Chat Noir growled. “Your reign of terror is at an end.”

Hawkmoth laughed. “Please, Chat Noir, don’t even bother. You’re no hero; you’re my Paragon.”

Chat Noir glanced at Ladybug. “Any ideas what he means?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Ladybug whispered back. “Just get to his cane.”

There was a loud noise, as if a thousand butterflies had suddenly taken flight, and Hawkmoth disappeared, rematerializing directly between Ladybug and Chat Noir, with one hand reaching for Ladybug’s earrings and the other for Chat Noir’s ring.

Ladybug was the quicker of the two, reaching up to grab Hawkmoth’s arm and force it toward the ground, pulling him over backwards. But before he would have hit the floor, he dematerialized again, reappearing where he had first stood.

“How many minutes do you have, Ladybug?” Hawkmoth asked with a smirk. “Or would it be better expressed in seconds?”

“You only have one spot left,” Chat Noir said with a glance at Ladybug’s earrings.

Ladybug yelled out in anger and flung her yoyo forward, wrapping it around Hawkmoth’s cane and yanking it away from him, catching it in her own hand.

Hawkmoth disappeared, and Ladybug suddenly felt his arm wrap around her neck, pinning her back. She kicked and struggled frantically, to no avail.

“Ah, yes, channel that anger,” Hawkmoth quietly intoned. “Let it consume you, and you will have your place in my legion. But first, it is time for the true you to be revealed.”

Chat Noir leaped at Hawkmoth from the side, attacking with his staff. Hawkmoth lashed out and kicked Chat Noir in the chest, sending him flying backwards to crash-land on the floor.

And a figure appeared in the shattered window, silhouetted against the light of the outside. As both Hawkmoth and Ladybug looked up at the newcomer, several blinding flashes of light appeared inside the gondola, causing both Ladybug and Hawkmoth to shield their eyes. Ladybug felt herself being pulled out from Hawkmoth’s grasp and toward the window.

“I’ve got you covered,” Volpina’s voice said. “Now go! Take the hoverboard, feed your kwami. We’ll hold him off.”

“Don’t you dare!” Hawkmoth’s voice yelled. “Those earrings are rightfully mine!”

Ladybug shakily stepped onto the hoverboard and descended. As she looked up at the gondola, she saw Volpina throw blinding light after blinding light from the tip of her flute.

Ladybug steered the hoverboard into an alleyway, and her transformation faded seconds before she landed and skidded along the pavement, crashing into a dumpster.

“Tikki, where are you?” Marinette asked frantically, checking inside her purse before finding Tikki hovering at her side.

“Marinette, are you all right?” Tikki asked in a faint voice.

“I’m fine,” Marinette replied, “although I can’t necessarily say the same for Chat Noir and Volpina if we don’t get back up there right away!”

Running to the end of the alley with Tikki in her hands, Marinette searched the street for signs indicating any sort of food, and ran for the bakery at the end of the block. Putting Tikki in her purse and pulling out her wallet, she rushed to the counter. “Three of those cookies, please.”

“Oh hello, don’t I know you?” the baker casually asked as she reached for the cookies.

“Maybe? I don’t know,” Marinette replied frantically. “Could I just get the cookies please? It’s an emergency!”

The baker raised her eyebrows. “I do know you! You’re Ladybug, aren’t you?”

Marinette gasped sharply, then tried to regain composure. “No, I’m definitely not. Who’s that?”

With a laugh, the baker held a finger to her lips. “Ah, I get it! You’re undercover. Very hush-hush. Don’t worry, I won’t say a word to anybody.”

Marinette took the cookies and ran. Behind her, she could faintly hear the voice of the baker: “Hey Pierre, you’ll never believe who was just here!”

In the alley, Marinette pulled Tikki out of her purse and presented the cookies, and Tikki grasped one of them and took a large bite.

“Please hurry, Tikki,” Marinette pleaded as she looked up at the departing zeppelin. She could still see bright flashes of light inside the gondola. Volpina was still in action, at least, although Marinette didn’t know how long that could keep Hawkmoth at bay.

And a few seconds later, the flashes stopped.

“Something’s happened,” Marinette realized. “I don’t know if it’s good or bad.”

“I’m ready,” Tikki replied. “Good luck, Marinette.”

Ladybug departed on the hoverboard, passing over the ongoing fight between the police, Lady Wifi, and Evillustrator, and within a minute she arrived back at the gondola.

And through the shattered window, she saw Lila lying on the floor, breathing slowly, with her necklace in her hand and an orange kwami lying next to her.

“Ah, so nice of you to return,” Hawkmoth said from the back of the room, stepping forward out of the shadows.

“We held him off as long as we could,” Lila said quietly.

Ladybug narrowed her eyes. “I’ve got exactly one question for you, Hawkmoth.”

“Oh, do tell,” Hawkmoth replied with a twirl of his cane.

“What happened to Chat Noir?”

Hawkmoth laughed. “Oh, Ladybug. You missed all the interesting bits. For instance, the time when he thought he could get my cane away from me. And the time when he stood too close to the edge of that window. And most notably, the time when I pushed him out.”

Ladybug stopped motionless in her tracks. “Hawkmoth, you’ll want to choose your next words very carefully.”

“Oh, don’t worry, he’s alive. He’s currently hanging onto the bottom of the gondola; I’m surprised you missed him when you came in.”

“So what’s stopping me from going to fetch him?” Ladybug asked cautiously.

“You leave here and Lila falls out that window, and I doubt she’ll have the same luck as Chat Noir.”

Ladybug looked down at Lila, who inaudibly mouthed something that Ladybug couldn’t understand.

“Nice try, Hawkmoth,” Ladybug said, “but that’s not a dilemma.” She extended her hand to the girl on the floor. “Lila, come with me on the hoverboard; we can fetch Chat Noir together.”

Lila shook her head. “No, Ladybug, wait—”

“We don’t have time for this, Lila!” Ladybug exclaimed, reaching down to grab Lila’s hand.

Lila disappeared in a puff of orange smoke.

Both Hawkmoth and Ladybug recoiled in surprise, and the former found himself at the receiving end of a flying kick from Volpina, who leaped out of the shadows behind him.

“You idiot, Ladybug!” Volpina yelled. “You always have to come and mess up my plans, don’t you?”

“Where’s the real Chat Noir?” Ladybug shouted. “Don’t play games with me!”

“I’ll explain later. But hurry, you have to get to Hawkmoth’s brooch!”

“His brooch?” Ladybug asked as Hawkmoth dematerialized and reappeared on the other side of the room.

“Yes!” Volpina shouted, playing a few notes on her flute and creating dozens of copies of both herself and Ladybug. “Not the cane, the brooch on his neck! You get to that, and we win!”

Ladybug nodded and ran forward, as did all her illusory doubles. Seeing them approach, Hawkmoth growled and vanished, appearing by the broken window.

It was then that the entire zeppelin shuddered. As Ladybug and Volpina looked out the window, several huge cracks appeared in the hull of the machine, and began oozing steam. The zeppelin began to suddenly drop towards the ground.

“Now, Ladybug!” Volpina yelled.

As the zeppelin dropped, Ladybug saw Hawkmoth lose his balance, and she threw her yoyo forward and wrapped it around him, pulling him towards her. Leaping into the air, Ladybug gave Hawkmoth a flying kick to the stomach, knocking him backwards onto the floor, with his head landing just inside the edge of the long drop to the city below. Ladybug landed on top of him, punching him several times in the chest and face, leaving him wheezing on the floor. With a triumphant grin, Ladybug snatched the moth brooch from his neck.

There was a blinding flash, and a middle-aged man with silver hair lay on the floor beneath Ladybug.

“What happened to the zeppelin?” Ladybug asked as the giant machine descended slowly towards the city.

“That was Chat Noir!” Volpina replied happily. “We made a plan! I’d trick Hawkmoth into thinking he’d beaten us, then he’d use his Cataclysm to destroy the zeppelin, giving either you or me the opportunity to get to Hawkmoth’s Miraculous. It worked pretty well, don’t you think?”

“No!” Ladybug realized. “What was he thinking? I told him not to use his Cataclysm!”

“And I told him that he needs to stop being so reliant on your orders.”

Ladybug smacked her hand to her face. “Volpina, listen. Remember the Paragon? He and Chat Noir are the same person. When Chat Noir detransforms, he’ll become the Paragon again.”

Volpina’s jaw dropped. “You mean you didn’t catch his akuma? How could you be so careless?”

“He almost killed me. I did what I could to stop him, and we were going to have to figure it out after all this.”

“Well you have to figure it out now. We’re running out of time!”

Ladybug thought for a minute. “This zeppelin’s going to crash any minute now. Get on the hoverboard and deliver Hawkmoth to the police. I’ll handle Chat Noir.”

With a grimace, Volpina hauled the dazed and confused Hawkmoth onto the hoverboard, and tucked his small purple kwami into his pocket.

“You have to listen to me,” the man began.

“Save it for the police,” Volpina snapped back, detaching the hoverboard from the side of the zeppelin and descending towards the city.

Ladybug climbed out the window and around the side of the gondola, and saw Chat Noir dangling by his fingertips.

“Hey there, my lady,” he said quietly. “Did we win?”

“We beat Hawkmoth,” Ladybug replied. “But we still have to finish off the Paragon. And I’d rather not do that up here.”

Chat Noir nodded, and holding on to Ladybug, extended his staff to the ground below. “Hold on tight,” he said, and the two of them descended from the smoking zeppelin.

As they landed, Chat Noir sat down. “I got akumatized,” he said flatly.

“It’s not your fault,” Ladybug replied, putting her hand on Chat Noir’s shoulder. “It happens to the best of us. But tell me—what do you remember?”

“I was on my bed. And then I heard Hawkmoth’s voice, and the next thing I remember, I was falling out of the sky with you next to me.”

“I need to know one thing,” Ladybug insisted. “Where’s your akuma? You have to remember this!”

Chat Noir squinted his eyes as he thought, and began to shudder as another paw pad disappeared from his ring, with only two remaining.

“I wanted to be a better hero,” he said quietly. “That was what Hawkmoth was preying on.”

“Yes, but where’s the akuma?!” Ladybug shouted. “You nearly killed me last time. I need to know!”

“Did I have a cape?” Chat Noir asked, his voice sounding faint.

Ladybug’s eyes widened. Of course. What better place to hide an akuma for somebody who wished to be a hero?

“Thank you, Chat Noir,” Ladybug said.

Another pad blinked off of Chat Noir’s ring, leaving only one remaining.

“When your transformation fades, you’re going to try to kill me,” Ladybug pointed out. “So I’m going to tie you up with my yoyo.”

Chat Noir nodded as Ladybug secured him to a lamppost.

“Listen,” Chat Noir said, with a shaking voice and terror in his eyes. “When you free the akuma, please don’t look at me.”

“Didn’t you always want us to reveal our identities to each other?” Ladybug asked.

Chat Noir shook his head. “Not like this. Please, this is the one thing I’m asking.”

Ladybug nodded. “As you wish. I promise.”

Chat Noir slid the ring off his finger, and handed it to Ladybug.

And in a flash, his costume disappeared, leaving behind the colorful clothes of the Paragon, with a long blue cape behind him.


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The final fight between Ladybug and the Paragon.

“This has been a long time coming, Ladybug,” the Paragon growled, struggling against the string of the yoyo.

“Oh, please, just stop already,” Ladybug shot back. “You’ve lost. Hawkmoth’s been defeated and his zeppelin’s about to crash. You’re merely a vestige of the last akuma. And once it’s out of your cape, it’s never coming back.”

“Then I guess I’ll have to go out with a bang,” the Paragon sighed, standing up, ripping the lamppost he was tied to out of the sidewalk. The strings of the yoyo loosely cascaded down around him.

“Chat Noir, listen. It’s me, Ladybug, and I’m giving you one last chance to end this the easy way. You’ve done enough, and it’s time to come back to me.”

The Paragon narrowed his eyes and quietly growled. “If Hawkmoth’s really gone, this is all the time I have left. I’m not going to spend it succumbing to sentiment.”

Ladybug drew a deep breath. “Then I’m going to have to stop you.”

And they fought.

They fought on the streets and on the rooftops, in the sky and under the ground. Time after time, Ladybug threw her yoyo, only to have the string helplessly fall into the Paragon’s grasp. She rose up only to descend, as her nemesis was always there to meet her.

A maelstrom of shining color illuminated the streets as the Paragon flew above, darting back and forth in the sky, always a few steps ahead of the spotted girl. As he parried blow after blow and deflected strike after strike, he began to laugh and laugh, his surprisingly cheerful voice echoing in the deserted alleyways.

Ladybug leaped off of chimney tops and windowboxes as she pursued the shining figure flying ahead of her, along streets and into subway stations, never slowing down, with the Paragon’s laughter to guide her. Some of her luckier blows would land, but she never touched the Paragon’s cape.

And soon, both Ladybug and the Paragon stopped running, and faced each other in an empty square. Ladybug stood with a half-constructed building behind her as she coughed and panted. The Paragon stood to the left of a tall fountain, gilded at the base and at the top. The two stared each other down in silence before acting simultaneously.

“Lucky Charm!” Ladybug yelled, flinging her yoyo high into the sky.

“Cataclysm!” the Paragon growled, holding out his hand and clenching it into a fist.

A small metal bell fell out of the sky and landed in Ladybug’s hand.

The Paragon took a few steps forward, then lowered his head and began to charge.

Ladybug held up the bell, confused, and tentatively rung it. A quiet ring echoed across the square.

The Paragon approached, his eyes wild as dark energy poured from his outstretched hand.

And he stopped, standing up straight and looking very calmly over Ladybug’s shoulder.

“Is this an illusion?” he asked.

“No,” Volpina’s voice said from very close behind Ladybug. “This is all very real.”

Ladybug began to spin around, only to find herself pulled backwards with Volpina’s flute pressed against her neck. She struggled, to no avail.

“What are you doing?” Ladybug yelled.

“I’m getting my revenge,” Volpina said with a chuckle. “It’s been a long time coming, Ladybug.”

“You’re siding with him?!” Ladybug exclaimed. “Are you crazy?!”

“Oh, I’m almost certainly crazy, but I’m siding with nobody but me,” Volpina replied smoothly. “Did you actually think I’d accepted your flimsy apology for how you treated me? Did you think you’d be able to get away with ruining my life without facing any repercussions?”

“But you had been helping me!” Ladybug insisted.

“Believe me, I wanted to take down Hawkmoth just as much as you did. Next on my list are you and the Paragon. I can handle the Paragon on my own, but for now he can help me out with you.”

“Gladly,” the Paragon replied. “But don’t think you can beat me afterwards.”

Volpina smirked. “We’ll see.”

“So you want to get rid of him, too?” Ladybug asked.

“Look,” Volpina explained, “I actually care about protecting this city. It’s a hero’s duty, after all. And unlike some of us, I’m not just in it for the personal glory.”

“That’s not even remotely what I—” Ladybug began.

“Shut up, Ladybug. You’re not part of this anymore. Now, Paragon, come finish the job.”

The Paragon held up his hand. “You want me to use my Cataclysm on her?”

“It’s the easiest way, isn’t it? Clean and convenient, with no evidence. I can’t kill her myself, but I can keep her restrained for you.”

Ladybug continued to struggle in vain against Volpina’s flute.

The Paragon walked forward, with only a few paces separating him and Ladybug.

“Do it,” Volpina ordered. “I didn’t come this far for you to let me down.”

The Paragon took a few more steps forward, and Ladybug was in his reach.

“It always had to come to this, didn’t it, Paragon?” Volpina mused. “Just you and me and the girl of our dreams, who we both want out of the picture.”

“I suppose you’re right,” the Paragon said, holding his hand mere inches from Ladybug’s chest.

“Oh, and do one more thing for me, will you, Paragon?” Volpina asked. “Look into her eyes as the light goes out. If I don’t get to see, at least you’ll be able to tell me how it feels.”

Ladybug stared into the Paragon’s eyes as he stared back into hers.

“You and I, we’re an unstoppable team,” Ladybug whispered.

And the Paragon collapsed to his knees and doubled over as tears began to stream down his face.

“Get it out,” he whispered. “Please. Just get it out.”

Volpina released Ladybug, who knelt down next to the Paragon.

“Goodbye, Paragon,” Ladybug whispered, and picked up his cape and ripped it in two.

There was a flash of bright light, and a boy with blond hair lay on the ground in front of Ladybug, who found herself holding two halves of a bed sheet, with the stains of tears still visible on the fabric.

Ladybug drew a deep breath as she held the sheet and looked down at the shivering and helpless boy lying in front of her, with his face just barely obscured.

Ladybug pulled the silver ring out of her pocket and slipped it over the boy’s finger before covering him with the sheet.

“I hope one day I’ll learn who you are,” she said quietly. “But I’ll let you have your secrets for now.”

And as she knelt silently, the zeppelin above slowly crashed into the building in front of her, slowly crumbling and releasing an expanding cloud of dust.

Ladybug held the bell in one hand. She gave it a small ring, wondering what it was meant for and why she didn’t end up using it in the end. But that was a question she suspected she’d never be able to answer. The bell had only one purpose now.

“Miraculous Ladybug!” Ladybug shouted, throwing the bell high into the sky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's one more chapter coming! Stay tuned for the conclusion.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ladybug meets with Volpina and Chat Noir at the bakery.

“All right, Volpina, I want answers,” Ladybug demanded.

“I’m sure you do,” Volpina replied, taking a sip from her cup of coffee and glancing out the window. “Wow, the coffee here really isn’t very good.”

“Excuse me, but Tom and Sabine make the best coffee in Paris!” Ladybug exclaimed.

“Are you even old enough to drink coffee, Ladybug?” Volpina teased.

“Don’t act like you’re older than me,” Ladybug retorted. “There’s no chance of that.”

Volpina chuckled. “You think that, then. But if it makes you feel better, it’s nothing against Tom and Sabine, I just haven’t ever found a good cup of coffee since I got to Paris. I guess we just do it better in Italy.”

“With that level of disdain for the city, why do you want to protect it?”

“I have no particular love for Paris,” Volpina explained. “I’m just in this for the adventure.”

“You said you had a duty as a hero,” Ladybug pointed out.

“Well, I do! Although I’ll admit, I mostly just plan to use it as an excuse for fighting villains. But don’t worry, I’m not planning anything evil.”

“Well, that brings me to my next point of how yesterday you held me down and told Chat Noir to kill me.”

“And did he kill you?”

“No, but that’s not exactly your—”

“That was my plan all along,” Volpina explained. “I knew he wouldn’t be able to bring himself to kill you after fighting by your side for so long—even akumas have limits for how much they can change a person. And I also knew that it would be futile to just fight him, because in your previous fights you always failed to beat him. So the only option was to get him into a position where we could free his akuma without fighting back. And without Hawkmoth around to force him into going through with it, I knew he wouldn’t be able to do it.”

Ladybug frowned, trying to parse Volpina’s explanation. “So, you’re not actually trying to bring me down?”

Volpina laughed. “Of course not! We’re friends, Marinette.”

Ladybug’s jaw dropped. “Excuse me?” she said quietly.

Volpina sighed. “What, you really thought I wouldn’t know? I had suspicions from the first moment I saw you out of costume. But when I got to know you, I realized that perhaps I’d misjudged you the first time I met you as Ladybug.”

“And how did you figure it out for certain?”

“Oh, that was just a few days ago. I asked you as Marinette if you had a crush on Ladybug, and you had no idea how to respond. Then you felt even more awkward when I suggested I had a crush on Ladybug, and even more so when I said Alya did too. I tested this against when I said the same thing about Juleka a few weeks ago, and your reaction wasn’t nearly as awkward.”

“That’s…remarkably sound reasoning, actually.”

Volpina grinned. “Maybe I’ll teach you how to pull it off someday.”

“And was it true?”

“Was what true?”

“When you said you had feelings for me.”

“Let’s just wait and see,” Volpina replied with a wink.

The bell on the door jingled quietly, and Chat Noir entered the bakery.

“Hi all!” Chat Noir said cheerfully, approaching Ladybug and Volpina’s table.

“I think I’ll leave you two alone,” Volpina decided, getting up.

“Well, I guess I’ll be seeing you around,” Ladybug replied.

“Oh, and one more thing,” Volpina added. “We’re on good terms for now, but going forward, I’ve got plans that you probably won’t like. Don’t you dare interfere.”

“I wouldn’t even dream of it,” Ladybug answered with a slight grin.

Volpina left the bakery, and Chat Noir sat down.

“Well, I guess we’ve got a lot to talk about,” Chat Noir began.

“You got akumatized.”

“I got akumatized,” Chat Noir acknowledged with a slight chuckle.

“Why did you agree to it?”

“I’m sorry?”

“I’ve talked to other akuma victims in the past, and they’ve all said that Hawkmoth wasn’t able to give them their powers until they agreed to it. Something happened which made you consent to helping Hawkmoth, and I have a feeling it’s my fault.”

Chat Noir sighed. “I guess I just…well, it doesn’t matter now. That’s all behind us. Hawkmoth’s being brought to justice, so we won’t be seeing any more akumas.”

“But still, if you’ve got any lingering reasons to turn against me, I need to know,” Ladybug insisted. “Because we’re a team. We need to stick together if we want to succeed. If there’s a chance that something like this could still happen, I need to know.”

“We’re a team,” Chat Noir repeated quietly. “Thank you, Ladybug. That’s what I needed to hear.”

Ladybug grinned, and playfully poked Chat Noir on the shoulder. “And as a team, we’re unstoppable. Don’t forget that.”

“And don’t you go turning against me either, Ladybug,” Chat Noir added. “We wouldn’t want that.”

Ladybug nodded. “Of course not.” She paused and drew a deep breath. “And if it wasn’t clear, I am sorry. I know I’ve hurt you, and I’m not going to try to make any excuses for that.”

Chat Noir smiled slightly. “Thanks, Ladybug.

Humming cheerfully, Tom walked by and placed a cup of coffee in front of Chat Noir. “And how goes it for our two favorite heroes?” he asked cheerfully.

“We just had a bit of a skirmish,” Chat Noir replied. “My fault; I got akumatized. You may have noticed.”

“Well, I don’t mean to point fingers, but I did notice a number of interesting occurences over the last few days,” Tom said with a chuckle. “Glad to see all that was fixed.”

“I still say that yoyo of yours is an ex machina, Ladybug,” Sabine commented as she appeared behind Tom. “I’m sorry, but it’s not every day we have heroes in here, so do you two mind if we join you?”

“Oh, of course not!” Chat Noir replied as Ladybug tentatively nodded. “Go right ahead!”

Sabine sat down next to Chat Noir and Tom sat down next to Ladybug, who squeaked quietly as she found herself pushed against the wall.

“So how come all those other villains appeared at that one point?” Sabine asked. “I thought only one person could be akumatized at a time.

“That’s what we thought, but apparently there’s an obscure workaround,” Ladybug explained. “Multiple people can be akumatized if they express devotion toward Hawkmoth before he contacts them. Yeah, it doesn’t make sense.”

“So which of them was the toughest fight?” Tom asked.

“Well, I’d assume I was,” Chat Noir replied. “It took you three tries to take me down, didn’t it, Ladybug?”

“Oh, please, you’re giving yourself too much credit,” Ladybug teased. “Sure, you were tougher than the others we fought this time, but you weren’t as tricky as the Puppeteer, or the first time we fought Evillustrator. Honestly, I’m not even sure you made the top ten.”

“I was at least tougher than Mr. Pigeon, right?” Chat Noir asked.

“Oh, please. Nobody’s tougher than Mr. Pigeon,” Ladybug said with a laugh. “Now that’s one absolutely terrifying villain whose name strikes fear into the hearts of all who hear it!”

Chat Noir laughed as well. “What was Hawkmoth even thinking there?”

“Speaking of Hawkmoth, is it true that you two stopped him for good?” Sabine asked.

Ladybug shrugged. “We’ll have to see. He’s in custody for now, but I don’t trust the police to keep him contained.”

“And did you see who he was?”

“Honestly, I didn’t bother to look,” Ladybug admitted. “I was just concerned about getting out of there.”

“On that hoverboard, right? How did you get that?”

“It was a Lucky Charm. One of the luckier ones. I still have it, actually; I wonder if I’ll find any good uses for it.”

“If you don’t want it, I’ll take it,” Chat Noir suggested. “I’d always wanted to ride a hoverboard.”

“That makes two of us,” Tom chuckled. “Ladybug, I hope you’ll let your dear old dad take a spin on it someday.”

Ladybug gulped. “Excuse me?” she stammered.

Tom’s eyes widened. “I said, er, I hope I’ll have the chance to dabble in it someday.”

“That doesn’t sound at all like what you said,” Chat Noir commented.

“Oh, excuse him, he’s getting old and senile,” Sabine replied playfully.

“I am not!” Tom exclaimed. “I’m the picture of health.”

“Well, we’d best be getting back to the bakery,” Sabine said. “Thanks so much for talking to us; I can’t wait to tell our daughter. She’ll be so thrilled to hear you stopped by here!”

Tom and Sabine both stood up. “So long, Ladybug,” Tom said with a wink.

Ladybug grinned. “Well, Chat Noir, in case you missed it, Volpina’s out there cooking up some diabolical plot.”

“Sounds like someone needs to go out and take her down a peg,” Chat Noir replied.

“After you,” Ladybug said with a grin, gesturing toward the door.

Chat Noir walked out the door into the sun, twirling his staff in his fingers. Ladybug followed, casually tossing her yoyo into the air and catching it in her hand. And the unstoppable heroes of Paris took off into the sky, ready to fight for the forces of good in the world.


End file.
